‘Turkey to clear YPG/PKK terrorists east of Euphrates’

By Hatice Ozdemir Tosun

ANTALYA, Turkey (AA) - Turkey will clear YPG/PKK terrorists from east of the Euphrates like in Syria's Afrin and Jarabulus at any cost, said Turkish Foreign Minister on Sunday.

“Turkey won't allow US to stall the process for the operation in east of Euphrates like they did in Manbij,” Mevlut Cavusoglu said in Eid Al-Adha greetings in his hometown Antalya.

“The U.S. has not done its part in implementing the roadmap that we have approved of together,” he added.

Cavusoglu went on to say that, Turkey will clear east of the Euphrates either with or without the U.S.

Turkey has promised a counter-terrorist operation east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, following two similar successful operations since 2016.

In the last two years, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians to return to their homes.

The Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S. focuses on the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from the city to stabilize the region, which is located in the northern part of Syria’s Aleppo province.

YPG/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of terror group PKK, which has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people in Turkey, including many children, women, and infants, for more than 30 years.

*Writing by Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak