Military Operation in Syria ‘Matter of Time’: Turkey’s Erdogan

TEHRAN (IQNA) – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday talks with Russia on the northwestern Syrian region of Idlib were far from meeting his country’s demands.

Speaking to lawmakers from his ruling AK Party, he warned that a military operation there was a “matter of time”, Reuters reported.

Erdogan said Turkey was determined to make Idlib a secure zone “no matter the cost”, even as talks continue with Russia, which backs President Bashar al-Assad’s forces.

Turkey has 12 observation posts in Idlib, set up as part of an Iran-brokered agreement with Russia to de-escalate the situation near the Turkish border. Some of the posts, however, now lie in the territory that has been recaptured in joint Russo-Syrian efforts.

Ankara, which itself supports a number of anti-Damascus militant outfits in Idlib, claims that recent Syrian offensives there have killed 13 of its troops this month. It has threatened to attack the Syrian military unless government forces abandoned the liberated areas, and asked Moscow to “stop” Damascus.

Over the past four years, the Turkish military has staged at least two unauthorized incursions into northern Syria to push back against Kurdish militants, whom Ankara says seek to overthrow the Turkish government.

The aggression prompted the areas’ Kurdish population to ask the Syrian government for protection against the Turkish forces.