Turkey on Thursday described as far from satisfactory US assurances playing down plans to create a border force in northern Syria made up of Kurdish militia forces deemed as "terrorists" by Ankara. Washington said it is training a 30,000-strong border force on Syria's northern frontier with Turkey, comprised of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, whom Ankara accuses of being a terror group.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reacted furiously to the announcement of the plan over the weekend, denouncing the force as an "army of terror". But the Pentagon said late Wednesday it does not plan to create an "army" and the force is aimed at fighters from the Islamic State (IS) group and maintaining stability in areas recaptured from the jihadists. "Did this satisfy us in full? No, it did not," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told CNN-Turk television in an interview.
"The establishment of a so-called terror army would cause irreversible damage in our relations ... it is a very serious situation," he warned. The YPG is a major bone of contention in ties between Turkey and the United States, which considers it a key ally in fighting IS. Turkey accuses the YPG of being a branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that has waged an insurgency in its southeast since 1984.
The tensions come as Turkey repeatedly warns it is on the verge of launching an operation against towns in Syria controlled by the YPG, including the key centre of Afrin. But analysts say a full cross border operation would be near impossible without the approval of Russia, which has a military presence in the area.
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