Anti-Kurd campaign to reach Iraq border, warns Turkish President

Istanbul : “The ‘Operation Olive Branch’ started by Turkey will not stop unless the objective is fulfilled. It will free the Manjid city from terrorists, as per the promise made to Turkey. The war will continue till we finish all the terrorists up to the border with Iraq.” This is the stern warning given by the Turkish President Recep Erdogan. The warning issued by Erdogan is an indication that the new resistance in Syria will intensify.

The Turkish government which has been consistently acting aggressively against the Kurds, has started a military offensive called the ‘Operation Olive Branch’ in the ‘Afrin’ region in northern Syria last week. It was announced at the beginning of the operation that the action will be taken against all the terrorists right up to the Iraq border. The Turkish government had declared that no changes will be made to the operation, in spite of the US, Iraq and other countries expressing their displeasure.

The new warning by President Erdogan endorses that stand. The Turkish military has claimed to have killed more than 300 Kurdish and ‘IS’ terrorists in the last 9 days. But the Turkish president’s threat about the Manjib city deserves attention.

Manjib is a city near the main Syrian city of Aleppo and the US army is deployed in this city. There are two thousand US troops in that area. The ‘YPG’ organisation dominating in Manjib city is backed by the US. The ‘YBG’ was a major contributor to the US campaign against the ‘ISIS’ in Syria. It has a major participation in the Syria Border Protection Force.

In this situation, if the Turkish army decides to take action against the Manjib city, there is a possibility of confrontation between the US and the Turkish armies. This can deteriorate the relations between the two countries and the Gulf conflict can worsen.

Meanwhile, Turkey has claimed that the US have promised to stop the supply of weaponry to the Kurds in Syria. Turkey has claimed that their Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin and National Security Advisor to the US president, H R McMaster had a telephonic discussion on Friday. In the course of this discussion, the US National Security Advisor promised to stop weaponry supply to ‘YPG’, said Turkey.

A few days back the US president had appealed that Turkey should take action with all the necessary precautions not to have conflict between the US and Turkish armies.