Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed to destroy a 30,000-man border security force in Syria, trained and equipped by Washington, characterizing it as a “terror army” designed to infringe on the country’s sovereignty in the region.
During a vitriolic speech in Ankara Monday, Mr. Ergodan lashed out at the burgeoning security force and America’s continued military support for Kurdish separatist groups in Syria tagged as terrorist organizations by Turkey.
“A country we call an ally is insisting on forming a terror army on our borders. What can that terror army target but Turkey?” Mr. Erdogan said, referring to the new Syrian security force and the NATO alliance shared between Ankara and Washington.
“Our mission is to strangle it before it’s even born,” the Turkish president added.
Syrian President Bashar Assad and his backers in Iran and Russia have also condemned the new U.S.-backed security force in the country, also recently pledging to drive all U.S. troops out of the Middle Eastern nation. Aside from establishing the new security force, the Pentagon is also drafting plans for an enduring U.S. military presence in Syria and Iraq.
American commanders in Iraq and Syria are looking to the coalition of Arab and Kurdish militias, known as the Syrian Defense Forces (SDF), that drove the Islamic State terror group from its so-called capital of Raqqa late last year to make up the bulk of the new border security force.
The Kurdish People’s Protection Units, or YPG, have been an integral member of the SDF, an alliance that has strained U.S.-Turkish relations since the beginning of the war against ISIS four years ago. The YPG is the armed faction of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK, which Turkey has labelled as a terrorist organization.
“This is what we have to say to all our allies: Don’t get in between us and terrorist organizations, or we will not be responsible for the unwanted consequences,” Mr. Erdogan said Monday, Reuters reports.
Turkish forces are already poised to begin ground operations against the reported YPG stronghold of Afrin in northwest Syria. Ankara ordered airstrikes, heavy artillery and mortar strikes against YPG units in Afrin beginning last September, in the run up to the eventual liberation of Raqqa.
“Our operations will continue until not a single terrorist remains along our borders, let alone 30,000 of them,” Mr. Erdogan said.
• Carlo Muñoz can be reached at cmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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