ISTANBUL, Oct 27 (NNN-ANADOLU) – Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said that, if northern Syria is not cleared of terrorists at the end of 150 hours, as agreed by Ankara and Moscow, in Sochi, “Turkey will handle it and do all the cleaning single-handedly.”
Speaking at an event in Istanbul, the Turkish leader also urged the world to respect his country’s sensitivity to the security of its borders and support its plan to create a safe zone in northern Syria along the border.
“We are working to establish a safe zone to prevent PKK, YPG and Daesh attacks against our country, from Syria,” he said, referring respectively to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the People’s Protection Units and the Daesh.
Under the deal, the Kurdish YPG fighters are expected to be withdrawn to a depth of 30 km from the Turkish-Syrian border in 150 hours.
“If the terrorist organisations continue their attacks from within or outside of the 30-km line, we will pursue them to wherever they flee,” Erdogan said.
He reiterated his threat to open Turkey’s border gates for refugees to go to Europe, if European countries would not support Ankara’s plans to resettle one to two million Syrian refugees currently residing in Turkey.– NNN-ANADOLU