Tayyip Erdogan, during an interview with the issuer CNN Turk, declared that any security zone along the Turkish border with Syria must be under Turkish control.
“If there is to be a safe zone along our border, then it must be under our control. Because that's my border, ”Erdogan said.
Words spoken after a senior US administration official said Washington would leave about 400 US troops in Syria, effectively a U-turn by President Donald Trump that could pave the way for US allies to keep the troops.
Trump who, after declaring that he had defeated the Islamic State, decided to withdraw all 2.000 US troops from Syria next December, a decision criticized by US allies and lawmakers. According to a US administration official, the US military is expected to join in what should be a total commitment of some 800 - 1.500 European allied troops to establish a security zone in northeastern Syria.
Ankara, which has repeatedly threatened to intervene militarily against the YPG east of the Euphrates River, considers the Kurdish YPG militia, which controls the region that has been a key US ally against the Islamic State, to be a terrorist group.