"I would like to repeat that unless we ensure security in all the regions controlled by the YPG [the Kurdish People's Protection Units] first of all, in Manbij, we will not stop," Erdogan said at the trilateral Russia-Turkey-Iran summit on Syria.
The president noted that the three guarantor states' leaders agreed on the necessity to preserve Syria's territorial integrity. He mentioned that they also had worked out some steps on Syrian settlement, however, without providing details.
READ MORE: US Has Established Two New Bases in Manbij – Reports
On March 28, the Turkish National Security Council warned that Ankara would push its operation in the northern district of Afrin further to Manbij, if the Kurdish YPG forces, supported by the United States, did not leave the region. Turkey considers YPG militia to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organization by Ankara.