Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan commented Tuesday that in Kobani, a Syrian city on the border with Turkey symbolically important for Kurdish Syrians, it is already “over”.
The news agency Anadolu quoted Erdogan as saying that Turkey is taking “the necessary precautions in Idlib, in Kobane, we are taking them, and we will take them from now on. Tell your terrorist friends, Turkey is not such a fertile place for them.
This is where they will drown as soon as they try to enter.” The Turkish leader has vowed to put an end to the “terrorism” in northern Syria in reference to an operation that was launched on Nov, 20, so far only with airstrikes and artillery shot from the Turkish border, against the Syrian Kurdish-led YPG.
The YPG is linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the US and the EU. Since 2017, Ankara has launched military operations across the border and set up military positions in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib as well as the northern part of the Aleppo province.
These areas are disputed between Turkish-backed Syrian local opposition groups and forces answered to and/or aligned with the Syrian government forces.
Turkish and Syrian government forces have clashed in this area.
In 2020, Turkey and Russia – allied with the Syrian government – reached a ceasefire agreement in Idlib.
However, Turkey has repeatedly accused the Syrian government of violating the accord. (ANSAmed).
