Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia should disband and referred to as on the US to cease supporting it.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Kurdish fighters in Syria will both lay down their weapons or “be buried”, amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian rebels and different armed teams because the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.
Following al-Assad’s ouster on December 8, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia should disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria’s future.
The change in Syria’s management has left the nation’s important Kurdish factions on the again foot.
“The separatist murderers will both bid farewell to their weapons, or they are going to be buried in Syrian lands together with their weapons,” Erdogan instructed lawmakers from his ruling AK Celebration in parliament on Wednesday.
“We are going to eradicate the terrorist organisation that’s making an attempt to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings,” he added.
Turkiye views the YPG militia – the principle part of the United States-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Staff’ Celebration (PKK) militia, which has waged a revolt in opposition to the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkiye, the US and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly referred to as on its NATO ally Washington and others to cease supporting the YPG.
Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, mentioned this isn’t a stunning assertion by Erdogan “as it’s the official rhetoric of the Turkish authorities”.
For the reason that YPG is taken into account “the Syrian department of the PKK, Ankara believes that they need to both lay down arms, or they need to combat and they are going to be defeated,” Koseoglu mentioned.
Earlier, Turkiye’s defence ministry mentioned the armed forces had killed 21 YPG-PKK fighters in northern Syria and Iraq.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged final week the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the primary time, saying that they had helped battle ISIL (often known as ISIS) fighters and would return dwelling if a complete ceasefire was agreed with Turkiye, a core demand from Ankara.
He denied any organisational ties with the PKK.
Erdogan additionally mentioned Turkiye would quickly open its consulate in Aleppo, including that Ankara anticipated a rise in site visitors at its borders in the summertime of subsequent yr as a number of the tens of millions of Syrian migrants it hosts start to return to their houses.
