Turkey may expand Syrian operation to Manbij, East of Euphrates amid YPG Worries - Ankara

"Turkey’s precautions against YPG/PKK cannot be limited to only Afrin. There is also Manbij and east of the Euphrates River," Turkish Foreign Minister said
Wednesday, 17 January 2018 22:49

Turkey cannot limit its precautionary measures against Syrian Kurds' People's Protection Units (YPG) to Syria's Afrin district, it might move to the city of Manbij, also in Aleppo province, and to the east of the Euphrates River, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said after a meeting with his US counterpart Rex Tillerson in Canada's Vancouver.

Ankara has been suggesting the possibility of an offensive in Syria’s northern Kurdish-controlled Afrin since the US-led coalition announced last week it was training Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) militants for a potential border control force. The SDF is affiliated with the YPG, which Ankara considers to be an offshoot of armed Turkey's Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"Turkey’s precautions against YPG/PKK cannot be limited to only Afrin. There is also Manbij and east of the Euphrates River," Çavuşoğlu said.

The foreign minister also reportedly said that contrary to the US promises, the cities of Manbij and Raqqa were not governed by local councils after being liberated from the Islamic State, but rather came u the der control of the PYD.

Both Turkish and US ministers were attending a Foreign Ministers' Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula.