Erdoğan: Turkey is ready for purge operation east of Euphrates

Daily Sabah
Sat, 05 Oct 2019 11:04 UTC

Turkey will carry out an air and ground operation in the east of the Euphrates River in Syria and purge the region from terrorists to establish peace there, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Saturday.

Speaking at the opening of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party)'s annual camp in Ankara, Erdoğan said Turkey aimed to "water the east of Euphrates with fountains of peace" and settle refugees there.

"Turkey saw that land and air patrols with the U.S. were a tale; we've made our preparations, we've completed our operation plans, given the necessary instructions. Turkey would carry out air and ground actions as soon as today or tomorrow. We gave all warnings to our interlocutors regarding the east of Euphrates and we have acted with sufficient patience."

Turkey has on many occasion expressed that it aims to settle up to 2 million Syrian refugees in the zone, and has repeatedly warned of unilateral military action if it is not satisfied with progress.

Turkish and U.S. military officials agreed on Aug. 7 to set up a safe zone which Turkey says should stretch 30 km (19 miles) into Syria and be cleared of the People's Protection Units (YPG) terrorists, which is the PKK's Syrian wing, as well as to develop a peace corridor to facilitate the movement of displaced Syrians who want to return to their homeland.

Turkish leaders have said the U.S. is not doing enough and is moving too slow in establishing the zone.

Syrian opposition forces have so far supported a potential cross-border offensive by Ankara in northeast Syria. On Friday, they united under the Defense Ministry and pledged their support to Turkey.

Turkey currently hosts some 3.6 million Syrian refugees, more than any other country in the world. Ankara has so far spent $40 billion for the refugees, according to official figures.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

New Economic Program goals

Touching upon Turkey's economy, Erdoğan said that Turkey will promote value-added production, support SMEs strongly in every field from accessing markets to financing.

"Interest rates have dropped to a reasonable level with appropriate interventions of the Central Bank, they will drop more," he noted, adding that Turkey aims to raise its growth rate to 5% and beyond in the coming years. "The inflation rate will fall below 5% and the unemployment rate will drop under 10% in Turkey at end of the New Economic Program," he said.

The president also claimed that Turkey will produce boron carbide, which is used in tactical and armored vehicles, helicopters, aircraft and protective vests.

"The current deficit problem ended for Turkey with structural reforms," he said.

Comment: More from RFE/RL, 5/10/2019: US-backed SDF warns of 'all-out war'

The U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have warned of "all-out war" against Turkey if Ankara carries out its threat to launch air strikes and a ground attack against them in northeastern Syria.

The SDF responded in a statement, saying on October 5 that it will "not hesitate to turn any unprovoked [Turkish] attack into an all-out war" to defend its region.

The SDF is an alliance of anti-government forces in Syria composed primarily of Kurdish, Arab, and Assyrian militias. The SDF also includes some smaller Armenian, Turkmen, and Chechen forces.

Reader Comments

arcsmith · 2019-10-05T22:15:26Z

"Turkish leaders have said the U.S. is not doing enough and is moving too slow in establishing the zone."

Other than threats and ultimatums, what has the US demonstrated to Turkey?