Ties between Turkey and the United States are tense over the group which Turkey regards as a national security threat because of its links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
Source: Associated Press
BEIRUT: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United Sates to withdraw its troops from the Syrian town of Manbij, renewing a threat to expand its military operation in Syria to the region that is held by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters.
Addressing legislators from his ruling party on Tuesday, Erdogan said Manbij was a predominantly Arab town and that Turkey would return the territory to its “real owners.”
Turkey launched a cross-border offensive into the northwestern enclave of Afrin to drive out Syrian Kurdish militia and has also vowed to clear Manbij of the Kurdish fighters, which make up the backbone of a force that fought the Islamic State group in Syria. The United States has a military presence in Manbij.
Ties between Turkey and the United States are tense over the group which Turkey regards as a national security threat because of its links to outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting inside Turkey.
“Why are you staying there (in Manbij)? Leave,” Erdogan said. “We will come to return the lands to their real owners.”