Erdogan says the YPG will be “buried” in Syria if it does not lay down its arms | Syrian war news

Ankara has repeatedly insisted on the necessity of dissolving the Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia and called on the United States to stop supporting it.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or be “buried,” amid hostilities between Turkey-backed Syrian rebels and other armed groups since the fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month. .

After Assad’s ouster on December 8, Ankara repeatedly insisted on the necessity of dissolving the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia, stressing that the group has no place in Syria. The future of Syria.

The change in Syrian leadership has put the country’s main Kurdish factions on the defensive.

“Either the separatist killers will deposit their weapons, or they will be buried with their weapons in Syrian territory,” Erdogan told lawmakers from the ruling Justice and Development Party in parliament on Wednesday.

He added: “We will eliminate the terrorist organization that is trying to build a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish brothers.”

Türkiye considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG) militia – the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces – an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which He launched a rebellion Against the Turkish state since 1984.

The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States, and the European Union. Ankara has He called again and again On its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the People’s Protection Units.

Al Jazeera’s Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said this was not a surprising statement from Erdogan “because it is the official speech of the Turkish government.”

Kosioğlu said that since the YPG is considered “the Syrian branch of the PKK, Ankara believes that they must either lay down their arms, or fight and will be defeated.”

Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Defense said that the armed forces killed 21 YPG and PKK fighters in northern Syria and Iraq.

Last week, the commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying that they had helped fight ISIS fighters and would return to their homes if a complete ceasefire was agreed upon with Turkey, which is a basic demand from Ankara. .

He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.

Erdogan also said that Turkey would open its consulate in Aleppo soon, adding that Ankara expects an increase in traffic on its borders in the summer of next year as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin to return home.