Turkey scrambles tanks to create ‘buffer zone’ on Syria border
Amid talk of a potential Turkish military intervention in Syria, the Turkish military is deploying tanks to the common border to create a “military buffer zone” there.
On Monday, Turkish armed forces began amassing near the Turkish border city of Sanliurfa, AFP reported.
The agency said Turkish officials were also discussing the potential intervention.
The planned buffer zone stretches 110 kilometers (68 miles) long and 28 kilometers (17 miles) wide between the southern Turkish towns of Karkamis and Oncupinar.
The forces are deploying opposite the border town of Kobani, AFP said.
Turkish daily Yeni Safak said Turkey had undertaken the measure to block possible advances by the ISIL Takfiri terrorist group and Kurdish groups.
Later on Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan chaired the regular National Security Council meeting amid speculations in the country’s media regarding a potential Turkish intervention in Syria, with Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu saying that a "necessary announcement" would be made after the session.
Erdogan has accused Syrian Kurds of trying to establish a state in the crisis-hit country’s north, saying Ankara will leave no stone unturned to prevent such an establishment near its borders.
Erdogan vowed Friday that Turkey “will never allow the establishment of a state in Syria’s north and our south. We will continue our fight in this regard no matter what it costs,” Turkish newspaper Today’s Zaman reported.
The Turkish president also accused Kurds of having undertaken “the operation to change the demographic structure of the region, stressing, “We will not turn a blind eye to this.”
The paper wrote that Ankara was “uncomfortable” with the gains made by Syrian Kurdish forces against ISIL Takfiris, which has been leading an unrelenting campaign of bloodshed against the minority in the militancy-afflicted Arab country.
Late Sunday, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu vowed to take "all necessary measures" to protect the border area with Syria, ahead of a security cabinet meeting later Monday.
Ankara has long been engaged in a conflict with the Turkish Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region inside Turkey since the 1980s.
Turkey has also been one of the main supporters of the militancy against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, with reports showing that Ankara actively trains and arms militants operating in Syria.
HN/KA/HMV
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