If Washington wants to avoid possible direct confrontation with Turkey in northern Syria, it “should stop supporting terrorists,” Turkey’s deputy prime minister said, as cited by Reuters.
The US needs to review its forces on the ground to avoid clashes with Ankara, Bekir Bozdag said.
It comes as Turkish operation dubbed “Olive Branch” in the Kurdish-dominated town of Afrin enters its sixth day. The campaign followed an announcement by the US-led coalition to create a thousands-strong Border Security Force with Kurdish fighters from, including from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) at its core.
Ankara insists that the YPG is linked to the PKK. The latter is designated as a terrorist group in Turkey, which has been fighting it for decades.
Bozdag’s statement comes less than a day after a phone call between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his US counterpart Donald Trump. During the call the latter raised concerns that Ankara’s ongoing military operation in Syria, if not scaled down, may result in a direct clash between the two major NATO allies.
Trump “urged Turkey to exercise caution and to avoid any actions that might risk conflict between Turkish and American forces,” according to the White House readout of the conversation. The US leader also called upon Ankara to de-escalate and “limit its military actions” in order to “avoid civilian casualties and increases to displaced persons and refugees.”
“With the Olive Branch operation, we have once again thwarted the game of those sneaky forces whose interests in the region are different,” Erdogan said. “Starting in Manbij, we will continue to thwart their game.”
Manbij is some 100km from Afrin and is held by US-backed Kurdish militia, raising fears of a direct clash between Ankara and Washington.