Erdogan says Turkey will clear border of Syrian Kurds

<p style="text-align: left;">Turkey&amp;rsquo;s president slammed the U.S.-backed Kurdish militant forces in Syria on Sunday and said he&amp;rsquo;ll clear his country&amp;rsquo;s border with Syria of &amp;ldquo;terrorists.&amp;rdquo;

Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a rally in the central province of Karaman his country would not allow &ldquo;terror nests&rdquo; near its border, referring to areas held by the People&rsquo;s Protection Units or YPG in northern Syria, The Washington Post reported.

Turkey considers the YPG an extension of a Kurdish insurgency within its own borders, and launched an operation in August 2016 to clear part of its border of their and the Islamic State group&rsquo;s presence.

Erdogan announced an expanded list of areas to be cleared. &ldquo;We will clean Afrin of terrorists, we will clean Manbij of terrorists. We will clean Tel Abyad, Ras al-Ayn and Qamishli of terrorists,&rdquo; he said.

Turkey has a military presence in the western Syrian province of Idlib as part of a de-escalation agreement struck with Russia and Iran. The province borders YPG-controlled Afrin and Turkey has threatened to attack the group there.

Erdogan has frequently expressed frustration with the Syrian Kurdish militant group&rsquo;s presence at Turkey&rsquo;s border. But it&rsquo;s rare that he mentions Qamishli, a town further east controlled by both the Syrian Kurds and Syrian President Bashar Assad&rsquo;s government.

Turkish officials regularly criticize the U.S. for backing and arming Syrian Kurds in combatting IS.

Last month, Turkey&rsquo;s foreign minister said President Donald Trump promised to stop arming the militant group but the Pentagon said it was reviewing the process, stopping short of announcing a halt to weapons transfers.

Erdogan chided the NATO member&rsquo;s allies, saying they &ldquo;will really be our allies when they stop working with structures we consider terror organizations in Syria.&rdquo;

News Code 3564

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