Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey to invade Syria when ready

• Tayyip Erdogan says Turkey is determined to secure its southern border with a “security corridor”
• Russia has asked Turkey to refrain from launching a full-scale ground offensive in Syria,
• US concerned about impact of further escalation on goal of fighting Islamic State militants.

President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Turkey’s air operations against a Kurdish militia in northern Syria were just the beginning, and that it would launch a land operation if retaliatory strikes escalated.

He stated that Turkey is more determined than ever to secure its southern border with a “security corridor,” while also ensuring the territorial integrity of both Syria and Iraq, where it has also conducted operations against Kurdish militants.

“We are continuing the air operation and will come down hard on the terrorists from land at the most convenient time for us,” Erdogan told his AK Party’s lawmakers in a speech in parliament.

“We have formed part of this corridor (and) will take care of it starting with places such as Tel Rifat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani), which are the sources of trouble,” he added.

In previous military incursions, Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies took control of the border areas to the west and east of the Kobani region.

Russia has asked Turkey to refrain from launching a full-scale ground offensive in Syria, according to senior Russian negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev, speaking after a new round of Syria talks in Kazakhstan with Turkish and Iranian delegations.

Meanwhile, the US has expressed grave concerns to Turkey, a NATO ally, about the impact of further escalation on the goal of combating Islamic State militants in Syria.

Turkey has previously launched military incursions in Syria against the Kurdish YPG militia, viewing it as a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the US, and the EU have designated as a terrorist organisation.

Ankara launched air operations over the weekend in retaliation for a bomb attack in Istanbul a week earlier that killed six people and was blamed on the YPG. Nobody has taken responsibility, and both the PKK and the YPG have denied any involvement.

Also Read

Pope Francis compares Russia’s Ukraine war to Stalin’s 1930s famine

Pope Francis tells St. Peter's Square that Ukrainians are suffering from the...