Turkey will not let the United States prevent its military operation in the Syrian territories, east of the Euphrates River, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said on Monday.
“[The United States] has tried to hamper us in northern Iraq, it tried to hamper us in Afrin, [Syria]. And now, it will try to hamper us east of the Euphrates. Turkey did not let it happen back then and we will not let it happen this time,” Soylu told reporters during a visit to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, as quoted by the Anadolu news agency.
The statement was made after on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara was ready to launch an operation against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) east of the Euphrates River. Commenting on that a day later, US Defense Department spokesperson Cmdr. Sean Robertson told Sputnik that the Turkish unilateral military operation in northeast Syria, if launched, would be unacceptable and Ankara should consult with the United States to address the security situation.