Ankara will push ahead with its military preparations until Kurdish fighters lay down their arms, Agence France-Presse reported on Thursday, citing a defense ministry source who talked about the ongoing threat Turkey faces along its border with northern Syria.
The comments came as concerns grew over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, some 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.
Turkey has thousands of troops in northern Syria and also backs a proxy force there that has engaged in ongoing clashes with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a US-backed, Kurdish-led force that Ankara sees as an extension of its domestic nemesis, the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“The threat posed by the terrorist organization to our borders and our operation areas in Syria continues,” the source said.
“Until the PKK/YPG terrorist organization lays down its arms and its foreign fighters leave Syria, our preparations and measures will continue within the scope of the fight against terrorism.”
Turkey accuses the People’s Protection Units (YPG) — which makes up the bulk of the SDF — of being affiliated with the PKK, which both Washington and Ankara consider a terrorist group.
Since 2016 Ankara has carried out several major operations against the SDF.
But Turkey believes Syria’s new rulers and Ankara-backed rebels “will liberate the regions occupied by the terrorist organization PKK/YPG,” the ministry source said.
However, Murat Karayılan, a senior PKK executive, denied the presence of his outlawed group in Rojava, the de facto autonomous Kurdish region in northeastern Syria. He said in a statement earlier this week that the developments in the region are not directly related to the PKK.
#MuratKarayılan, a senior figure within the Kurdistan Workers' Party (#PKK), analyses developments in #Syria after the collapse of the Syrian regime and highlights dangers and opportunities they may bring. https://t.co/pwAEPQ4bun pic.twitter.com/DMTVAKwWOR
— MedyaNews (@medyanews_) December 18, 2024
Karayılan argued that the PKK militants earlier went to Rojava to fight against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) but then returned.
“We openly declare that we are not in Rojava as the PKK. We have no organic or organizational ties with any organization in Rojava. Everyone knows when we went and when we returned. When ISIS attacked, we went to Kirkuk, Arbil, Makhmur, Shengal and of course Kobani, Rojava, but we returned. Now, based on this, they say ‘the PKK is there. ’No, there is no such thing,” he said.
The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and Syrian Kurdish fighters comes more than a week after Islamist-led rebels toppled Syria’s longtime strongman Bashar al-Assad.
Washington on Tuesday said it had brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and was seeking a broader understanding with Turkey.
But the defense ministry source insisted Ankara was not talking with the SDF, saying it was “out of the question for us to meet with any terrorist organization.”
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said Tuesday the Manbij truce had been “extended through the end of the week, and we will, obviously, look to see that ceasefire extended as far as possible into the future.”
But the Turkish source said, “Every step taken by terrorist groups that pose a threat to the security of our country and Syria is followed, and preventive and destructive measures are taken.”