Turkey says US has reneged on many promises to Ankara
Turkey says the United States has failed to live up to many of its promises to Ankara concerning Syria.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in Ankara on Friday that Turkey was disappointed with the US “not keeping most of its promises.”
Turkey is wary of the presence of Kurdish militants close to its borders in Syria, and has been opposed to US efforts to train and arm them in Syria. The US has promised to take back the weapons from Kurdish militants once the Takfiri terror group of Daesh, which the Kurds have been fighting, is routed in Syria.
The Kurds remain armed and in the territory they have seized while fighting Daesh, nevertheless, even as Daesh is effectively defeated in the Arab country.
Erdogan said the city of Afrin in Syria’s Aleppo Province had to be cleansed of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants.
Erdogan blamed Washington for reneging on its promises and said he “does not want the same experience in Afrin.”
The Turkish government associates the YPG with the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting Ankara for an independent state in southeastern Turkey.
Erdogan also said that Turkish military operations in Syria’s northwestern Idlib Province were continuing as planned and considerable progress had been made thanks to the joint stance of Turkey, Russia, and Iran.
The three countries joined hands in late 2016 to address Syria’s crisis, Ankara siding with anti-government militants in Syria, and Moscow and Tehran taking the side of Damascus.
Together, Turkey, Iran, and Russia have also been mediating talks between the Syrian government and opposition in the Kazakh capital of Astana. The talks led to creation of four “de-escalation zones” in Syria, including one in Idlib.
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