Speaking at a joint press conference with his Dutch counterpart Bert Koenders in Ankara, Cavusoglu harshly criticized the PKK’s Syrian affiliate YPG for failing to retreat back to the east of Euphrates as they previously pledged.
’’The YPG needs to retreat back to the east of Euphrates River, as they and the United States has previously pledged, and will be targeted if they fail to do so’’ he warned.
Cavusoglu noted that the Euphrates Shield Operation launched by Turkey aims to cleanse Daesh off the region and is pushing the terrorists away from the cities they previously controlled.
He highlighted that as Turkey previously stated, it is not possible to defeat Daesh with air strikes alone and that effective land operations are necessary to clean the terrorists from Syria and Iraq.
’’There would be no Daesh in Iraq or Syria had five or six countries made such cooperation about this issue’’ he added.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) shelled YPG targets Thursday that were reportedly trying to move toward the south Syrian town of Jarablus from northern Manbij despite warnings from the army.
The Turkish Army had warned the PYD during Operation Euphrates Shield to retreat to the Sajur River, which originates in Turkey and flows into the Euphrates in Syria.
In spite of these warnings, the group continued to advance, but had to return to the Sajur River after the TSK shelled the area.
Despite U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry telling Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in a telephone call Thursday morning that PYD units were moving to the east of the river, the group continued its offenses amid the conflict between Turkish-backed moderate opposition forces and Daesh terrorists.
It is worth mentioning that the Turkish president told the flag-wavering crowds yesterday in in Gaziantep: “Turkey has no toleration for any terrorist organization activities within its borders and nearby. Our operations against the separatist organization will continue without interruption.”
Referring to the Turkish-backed operation in Syria, which saw Jarablus liberated from Daesh last week, as well as the Turkish military’s training mission in northern Iraq, he added: “We are in Jarablus for this. We are in Bashiqa for this. If necessary, we will not hesitate to take responsibility in other regions.”
The PYD — the Syrian affiliate of the terrorist PKK — has been expanding its dominance west of the Euphrates River since late December, reinforcing its presence in the region using the fight against Daesh as a pretext.
Daesh is the Turkish term used for ISIS.
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