【Text/Observer Network Liu Qian】
On the 23rd local time, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the country will soon launch a new military operation on its southern border to establish a 30-kilometer-deep "safe zone" to deal with the "terrorist" threat in the area.
According to Reuters and the Associated Press, Turkey's military operation will invade syria's northern border in an attempt to strike at the PKK forces there. Recently, Erdogan publicly expressed his opposition to Finland and Sweden joining NATO, citing the fact that Fen-Switzerland harbors Kurdish militants and is a "hotbed of terrorism."
Screenshot of the Reuters report
Screenshot of Google Maps
Reuters said Erdogan announced the decision in a speech after the cabinet meeting. "The main targets of these (military) operations will be those core areas where attacks on our country are being launched, as well as the security zone," he said. They will establish a 30-kilometer-wide 'safe zone' along Turkey's border with Syria.
Erdogan did not elaborate on the circumstances of the military operation. However, he said the operations would be activated once Turkey's military, intelligence and security forces had completed their preparations.
Both Reuters and the Associated Press believe that Turkey's military operations will target northern Syria. Since 2016, Turkey has launched several military operations in northern Syria, mainly to combat the People's Protection Alliance (YPG), an armed branch of the PKK in Syria.
The People's Protection Alliance helped form the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led coalition that the United States has relied heavily on since 2014 to fight the Islamic State (ISIS).
On May 23, 2022, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke at the event. Pictured from the Turkish Presidential Information Office
The timing of Erdogan's announcement of military action is somewhat intriguing.
Earlier, the Nordic countries Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, and Turkey repeatedly expressed its opposition. On the 18th local time, several senior Turkish officials revealed that if the two countries want to join NATO, they must publicly condemn the "Kurdistan Workers' Party" and its Syrian branch. On the 19th, Erdogan publicly accused the two countries of harboring Kurdish militants, saying that the two countries were "completely hotbeds of terrorism."
Bloomberg reported on the 18th that virtually all NATO member states recognize the "Kurdistan Workers' Party" as a terrorist organization in Turkey, but many member states have chosen to support and even arm the Syrian branch of the organization, the "People's Protection Alliance" in order to fight the "Islamic State" (ISIS) - which is also one of the main reasons for tensions within NATO.
On the 19th local time, US President Joe Biden met with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson at the White House to express "full support" for the two countries to join NATO. The leaders of both countries said they would continue their dialogue with Turkey to resolve current issues.
Erdogan: I won't meet with him again
In addition to announcing the launch of military operations, Erdogan also had an "awkward" quarrel with the leader of another neighboring country on the same day.
According to Reuters, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on the 23rd that he would not meet with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis again, accusing the Greek leader of persuading the United States not to sell F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during his visit to the United States.
"We have agreed not to involve third parties in our dispute with them. Still, during his visit to the United States last week, in a speech to Congress, he warned the United States not to sell us F-16 fighter jets. Erdogan said.
"To me, he doesn't exist anymore. I will never agree to meet with him again. We will continue to work with respectable politicians. ”
Turkey and Greece are both NATO members, and the two countries have been divided on a range of issues such as maritime borders, the extent of the continental shelf, airspace and Cyprus.
After Erdogan's speech, a Spokesman for the Greek government responded that Mitsotakis had defended Greek rights and international law, and that Greece's foreign policy was based on its own alliances. "We will not have a tit-for-tat debate with the Turkish leadership. Our policy is a principled policy. ”
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