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| The Grand Turk |
| Turkey cleared ISIS from area in northern Syria |
| 2016-09-04 |
| They claim a win in Islamic Whack-a-mole, Home Edition. A big round of applause. Aren't they great? ANKARA: Turkey has swept Daesh and the Kurdish YPG militia from an area of northern Syria, but Syrian Kurdish forces have still not met a Turkish demand to withdraw to the east of the Euphrates river, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday. Turkey launched a cross-border offensive into Syria last week, saying it had a dual aim of driving away radicals and ensuring Kurdish forces did not fill the void that was left by extending their control of territory along Turkey’s border. Turkey is concerned that Syrian Kurdish fighters could embolden Kurdish militants waging an insurgency on its soil. The US has been alarmed by Turkey’s offensive against Kurdish forces. US officials have urged Ankara to focus its attacks on Dash instead. Erdogan said on Friday that the operation dubbed “Euphrates Shield” had been successful in clearing Daesh and Kurdish YPG from a 400 sq km area. But he dismissed claims that the Kurdish YPG, which Ankara calls a terrorist group, had withdrawn to a Kurdish-controlled canton to the east of the Euphrates River. The YPG says it has done so and US officials agree that is mostly the case. “At the moment, they are saying the YPG has crossed,” Erdogan said. “We are saying no they didn’t. The proof depends on our own observation.” The Kurdish YPG is part of a broader US-backed coalition in Syria, called the Syrian Democratic Forces. Washington has supported the group in its battle against Daesh but Ankara sees it as an extension of the PKK, the outlawed Kurdish militant group in Turkey. “Nobody can expect us to allow a terror corridor on our southern border,” Erdogan said, adding that said Turkey had sought the establishment of a “safe zone” in Syria, but said the idea had not received the backing of other world powers. |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #1 “Nobody can expect us to allow a terror corridor on our southern border,” Erdogan said and yet Turkey sends aid to Hamas |
| Posted by: lord garth 2016-09-04 00:34 |