Erdogan: Syria op to resume if US promises not kept
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Ankara will resume its military operation in Northern Syria "more strongly" if the Kurdish forces do not pull out from the area by the end of the day, as the United States promised when it struck a ceasefire deal with Turkey.
Speaking before heading to Sochi for a meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Erdogan insisted that "terrorists" from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and Kurdish forces, the People's Protection Units (YPG), "have no place in Syria's future." He stressed the goal of Turkey's operation was to clear 444 kilometers in Northern Syria from the "terrorists" and added that 775 Kurdish troops have already been "neutralized" during the offensive.
Last week, Turkey and the US reached an agreement to suspend the operation and implement a 120-hour ceasefire to allow Kurdish forces to withdraw from Northern Syria. In the meantime, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted that Washington wants to resolve the Syria crisis peacefully but warned President Donald Trump is "fully prepared" to take military action against Turkey if necessary.