ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he will eliminate Kurdish “terrorists” from the Turkey-Syria border referring to the US-backed People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria
“We will clean Afrin of terrorists, we will clean Manbij of terrorists. We will clean Tel Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli of terrorists,” Erdogan said at a meeting with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Sunday in the central province of Karaman, state media Anadolu Agency reported.
The YPG claimed on Wednesday that they killed two Turkish soldiers and wounded others trying to cross the border near Kobane.
The Syrian Kurdish force said the Turkish forces tried to “transgress” the border near the village of Ashme, west of Kobane, in the early hours on Wednesday.
The YPG and the female YPJ responded in force that resulted in blowing up a military vehicle “full of ammunition that caused the death of two Turkish soldiers” and wounded an unspecified number of other soldiers, a YPG statement read.
Turkey did not immediately confirm the incident or the casualties.
Turkey has constructed a wall along its border with Rojava, Syrian Kurdistan mainly to prevent movements of the YPG forces across the border.
It considers the YPG and its umbrella organization, the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as an extension to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a named terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and the EU.
The YPG and SDF deny any connection to the PKK.
Erdogan declared in late November after an exchange of fire between Turkish military and the YPG across the Afrin-Idlib border that they will “cleanse Afrin of the structure there called the YPG terrorist organization.”
The YPG have regularly reported exchanges of fire with Turkish forces in the Afrin area, accusing the Turks and their allied Syrian militias of daily attacks.
“They are not going to be able to seize a tiny part of our land,” the YPG stated last month, vowing to defend Afrin.
Turkey began military operations in Idlib province in October in order to monitor a ceasefire and establish a de-escalation zone under agreements reached in Astana by Turkey, Russia, and Iran.
Turkey is also using the mission to observe the Kurdish canton of Afrin, north of Idlib. Kurdish forces say the Turks have frequently fired at their positions and civilian locations in Afrin.
The YPG is the dominant force within the US-backed SDF battling ISIS in northern Syria and were successful in liberating Raqqa in June from the militant group.
