WASHINGTON – The US military has called on Turkey to halt its militaryaction in Syria’s northwestern region of Afrin against Kurdish fighters andfocus on combating Daesh terrorists.
“Turkey is an ally and we’re going to work with them, but this currentissue offensive is a distraction and we have to focus as allies on themission at hand and that’s defeating ISIS [Daesh],” chief DefenseDepartment spokeswoman Dana White told reporters at the Pentagon onThursday.
NATO member Turkey last week launched “Operation Olive Branch,” a new airand ground operation targeting the Afrin region, to oust the KurdishPeople’s Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terroristorganization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK).
However, the United States considers the YPG the most effective forcefighting Daesh on the ground in Syria and has provided weapons, trainingand air support to the group.
“We carefully track those weapons that are provided to them, we ensure thatthey, to the maximum extent possible, don’t fall into the wrong hands andwe’re continuing discussions with the Turks on this issue,” Joint StaffDirector Lieutenant General Kenneth McKenzie told reporters. He spokealongside White.
“Turkey has a legitimate concern about its internal security. Our focus isensuring that those internal security forces are able to hold the areasthat have been liberated from ISIS. It is a force that is focused solely oninternal security it is not a border force,” White said, referring to theYPG.
McKenzie said the US is working to accommodate Turkey’s national securityinterests, adding that American and Turkish military commanders havediscussed the possibility of creating a “secure zone” along the border withSyria.
“Clearly we continue to talk to the Turks about the possibility of a securezone, whatever you want to call it,” McKenzie said.
“We’ve looked at that for a couple of years in various different iterationsand no final decision on it yet. Our military commanders are still talkingso I would say it’s a concept that’s out there … it’s simply an ideathat’s floating around right now,” he added.
“There’s certainly areas that we disagree with. But we think we have anopportunity to perhaps come together and those discussions are continuing,”he continued.