Erdoğan signals new operation against YPG in Syria
Erdoğan on Oct. 11 issued a warning on possible "steps" in Syria after an attack on Turkish police which Ankara said was undertaken by the YPG. Following Erdoğan's remarks, the Turkish Lira weakened past 9.00 against U.S. Dollar for the first time ever.
Duvar English - Reuters
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Oct. 11 signaled a new operation against the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria, saying the latest YPG attack that killed two Turkish police was "the final straw."
"We have no patience left regarding some regions in Syria which have the quality of being the source of attacks on our country," Erdoğan said in a news conference following a cabinet meeting.
"We are determined to eliminate the threats originating from here either with the active forces there or by our own means," he added.
The Turkish Interior Ministry said that two police officers were killed on Oct. 10 in a guided missile attack in northern Syria's Azaz region, which Ankara said was launched by the YPG.
The attack was launched from the Tal Rifaat region, it said.
Separately, ammunition that landed in two separate areas caused explosions in the southeastern Gaziantep province's Karkamış district, across the border from Syria's Jarablus, the governor's office said.
A third landed within Jarablus, it said, not it was believed launched from a region controlled by the YPG, the U.S.-backed Kurdish militants which Ankara considers a terrorist organization due to its links with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
"The latest attack on our police and the harassment that targets our soil are the final straw. We will take steps for the solution of these problems as soon as possible," Erdoğan said.
Following Erdoğan's remarks, the Turkish Lira weakened past 9.00 against U.S. Dollar for the first time ever.
Azaz and Jarablus have been under the control of rebels backed by Turkey since Ankara's first incursion into Syria in 2016, in an operation that aimed to drive away ISIS militants and the Syrian Kurdish from its border with Syria.
Ankara has launched two other cross-border operations in Syria against the YPG, one of which targeted the Afrin region.
A car bomb also killed four people and wounded six others in Afrin on Oct. 11, according to local sources.