YPG 'provides safe corridor for Turkey'

Faruk Balıkçı ŞANLIURFA

AA Photo

Around 300 armed Syrian Kurdish fighters provided a security corridor for Turkish troops that staged an incursion to evacuate a Turkish-held tomb in northern Syria, witnesses in the region say.
 
Fighters from People’s Protection Units (YPG) reportedly created a five-kilometer long corridor while Turkish units entered the Rojava canton of Kobane through the Mürşitpınar border gate en route to the Tomb of Süleyman Şah.

A Democratic Union Party (PYD) official said late Feb. 21 that the Turkish army sought the cooperation of their armed forces before the operation started as the group controls the region in northern Syria.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said the government communicated with groups inside Syria, including the Free Syrian Army, in order to avoid civilian casualties during the operation but did not cite the PYD which controls the area from which the Turkish army crossed over the border to evacuate troops protecting the tomb.

“All parties were fully aware that any intervention or blockage of this operation would have received the harshest response,” Davutoğlu said.