Turkey can push PYD east of Euphrates, Turkish PM says

ANKARA

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Turkey is capable of pushing fighters of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from northern Syria if they continue to ignore Ankara’s demands for a full withdrawal east of the Euphrates, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım has stated. 

“We will throw the PYD and YPG from Jarablus whenever needed, just as we and Free Syrian Army [FSA], along with locals, forced the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant [ISIL] south of Jarablus,“ Yıldırım said on Oct. 4 at the AKP’s parliamentary group meeting.

Yıldırım said the YPG, which Turkey says is affiliated with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), has not pulled its forces back from Manbij region despite promises from the U.S. and despite the fact that the area has been cleared of ISIL. 

The Euphrates Shield Operation will continue until a 5,000-square meter area around El-Bab and the north of that region is secured, the Turkish prime minister vowed.

He also warned that a planned offensive in Iraq to retake Mosul from ISIL was “dangerous” and could spark Shiite-Sunni sectarian tensions if the Sunni Arab-majority region around Mosul is placed under the control of Shiite militia after the offensive.

“Our partners’ plans for the Mosul operation are not transparent,” Yıldırım said.

“Handing Mosul over to Shia militias and including the PKK/PYD would lead to a new fire being stoked in the region,” he added.