ISTANBUL — Turkey's president said yesterday the country will launch a military assault on a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria "in the coming days," and urged the US to support its efforts.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the operation against the Afrin enclave aims to "purge terror" from his country's southern border.
Afrin is controlled by a Syrian Kurdish militia known as the YPG. Turkey considers the YPG to be a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged a bloody insurgency within its borders.
A YPG spokesman in Afrin said clashes erupted after midnight between his unit and Turkish troops near the border with Turkey. Rojhat Roj said the shelling of areas in Afrin district, in Aleppo province, killed one YPG fighter and injured a couple of civilians on yesterday.
Turkey and its Western allies, including the US, consider the PKK a terrorist organization. But the US has been arming some of Syria's Kurds to defeat the Islamic State group in Syria — a sore point in already tense US-Turkish relations.
The Turkish president said "despite it all" he wants to work with the US in the region and hopes it will not side with the YPG during the upcoming Afrin operation.
"We expect (the US) to support Turkey in its legitimate efforts" to combat terror, said Erdogan.
He added that the new operation would be an extension of Turkey's 2016 incursion into northern Syria, which aimed to combat IS and stem the advance of US-backed Kurdish forces. Turkish troops are stationed in rebel-held territory on both sides of Afrin.
Roj said the Kurdish militia will fight to "defend our gains, our territories." Senior Kurdish official Hediye Yusuf wrote on Twitter that the Turkish operation against Afrin is a "violation" of the Syrian people and undermines international efforts to reach a political solution in Syria.
The Turkey-PKK conflict has killed an estimated 40,000 people since 1984 and the resumption of hostilities in July 2015 killed more than 3,300 people, including state security forces, militants and civilians.
Turkey vows imminent assault on Kurdish enclave in Syria
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures to supporters of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), at a rally in Bingol, eastern Turkey, Saturday, Jan. 13, 2018. Erdogan has said Turkey will oust Kurdish militants from Afrin, northern Syria, as the military shelled the area from across the border. Turkey considers the YPG a terror group and an extension of the Kurdish insurgency within its own borders. (Pool Photo via AP)