“We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30-kilometer deep safe zone we established along our southern border,” Erdogan said, referring to the October 2019 “Operation Peace Spring.”
In that operation, Turkish forces raced past US border stations in northeastern Syria to attack the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia that has served as a key US ally in the fight against Daesh but which Turkey - also a US ally - regards as a terrorist group. The operation saw the border area depopulated of Kurds, and was the third such Turkish incursion on Syria since 2016. Turkish forces also occupy areas of northern Aleppo and Idlib governorates, the latter in support of al-Qaeda-aligned* militants fighting the Syrian government.
“The areas that are the center of attacks, harassment and traps against our country and our safe areas are at the top of our operational priority,” Erdogan added on Monday, according to Erbil-based news outlet Rudaw.
Elham Ahmed, president of the Executive Committee of the Syrian Democratic Council (SDC), which claims to rule the eastern third of Syria thanks to US backing, denounced Ergodan’s plans in a Monday tweet.
“The Turkish attack on the multicultural region of Tall Tamr which is inhabited by Kurds, Arabs and Assyrians is a continuation of the genocidal approach against our people. These attacks need to be stopped especially by the states that guaranteed the ceasefire agreement,” he said.
The announcement comes as another anti-Kurdish operation is already underway in neighboring Iraq. Dubbed “Operation Claw-Lock,” it is the latest stage of a Turkish incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan to attack bases belonging to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that began in 2019. Baghdad has denounced the operation as a violation of its sovereignty, but Ankara says it is securing its own border area against PKK crossings, not violating Iraq’s sovereignty.
On Tuesday, three Turkish soldiers were killed and four more wounded in Iraqi Kurdistan in battles with the PKK, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
Erdogan’s announcement also comes amid a dispute within the NATO alliance about the potential admission of Sweden and Finland. The Turkish leader has objected to either nation’s admission, saying they support Kurdish terrorist groups like the PKK and YPG - allegations Stockholm has denied.
A memo circulated by the Turkish government on Tuesday laid out Ankara’s demands of Sweden before it will acquiesce to the Scandinavian country’s admission to the alliance. The demands include ending political support, financing, and military shipments to the PKK and its Syrian affiliate, the Democratic Union Party (PYD). They also include Sweden lifting embargoes and sanctions against Turkey, and global cooperation against terrorism.
*Al-Qaeda: a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other nations