"The United States is now creating a terrorist army near our borders that threatens the security of Turkey. Our task is to strangle this army until it is born. If the United States wants to establish cooperation with these savage creatures, it is their business. But we will not allow this," Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.
READ MORE: US 'Playing With Fire' by Building 'Terrorist Army' in Syria — Turkish Deputy PM
The president noted that the Turkish army would continue shelling the SDF positions in Syria's northern Afrin district.
"Our Armed Forces will hopefully solve the problem in Afrin in the near future, the operation may begin there at any moment," Erdogan added.
Erdogan's latest statement comes after earlier on Monday he said that the United States were forming a "terrorist army" under the disguise of so-called Border Security Force (BSF) on the Syrian territory controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militia, and threatened to eliminate these troops.
READ MORE: Erdogan Pledges to 'Purge Terrorism' in Kurdish Enclave in Northern Syria
The coalition's representative clarified that a half of the planned force will consist of retrained SDF fighters, an alliance of militias in Syria dominated by the Kurdish YPG (People's Protection Units), which Ankara regards as a terrorist group associated with the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), banned in the country. Turkey has repeatedly accused Washington of arming Syrian Kurdish groups, which listed as terrorist organizations by Ankara.
