Erdoğan: Tal Rifaat to be taken soon

TRABZON

Syria’s Tal Rifaat will be the next target in Turkey’s military operation into Afrin, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said.

“God willing, take Tal Rifaat soon and Afrin operation will achieve its goal,” Erdoğan said in Trabzon on March 25 during the provincial congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

The president also urged the United States to transfer control of Syria’s Manbij from the People’s Protection Units(YPG) to its “real owners.”

“There were promises during the [Barack] Obama administration, when the terrorist organization first came to Manbij,” Erdoğan said.

“The administration may have changed, but the fundamental principal in a state is continuity. That is why the U.S. should immediately take over Manbij from the YPG and give it to the real owners of the region. We will not of course aim guns at our allies, but we will not forgive terrorists when we see them and we will shoot them down.