Turkey on Wednesday asked the United States to stop Kurdish militia forces deemed “terrorists” by Ankara from moving to Syria’s Afrin region to battle against Turkish military offensive.
The Turkish army on January 20 launched an aggression against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia in their enclave of Afrin near the border.
The Pentagon said on Monday Turkey’s Afrin offensive caused an “operational pause” in their operations against the ISIL Takfiri group.
“The US is expected to step in to stop YPG/PYD forces shifting — under US control — from Manbij to Afrin,” Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in televised remarks.
“This is our most natural right. Whether they do it or not is a separate question but we have taken all the necessary measures on the ground,” he said.
Washington, which has a military presence in Manbij — almost 100 kilometers (60 miles) to the east of Afrin, has been at loggerheads with Ankara over the YPG.
The YPG forms the bulk of the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF)- who are backed by the US- in the alleged fight against ISIL terrorists.
At a news conference on Tuesday, the SDF announced it would pull fighters out of areas of eastern Syria in order to shore up defenses in Afrin.
Source: AFP
