Çavuşoğlu: ‘YPG must move to the east of Euphrates; or, we’ll do what is necessary’
Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu has given statements on the ongoing operation over Jarabulus, saying “Our aim is to sweep DAESH away from our borders… The YPG forces within SDF must immediately move to the east of Euphrates. Otherwise, as Turkey, we are going to do what is necessary!”
Çavuşoğlu gave statements with the presence of European Commission Chair of the Committee of Ministers and Estonia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Marina Kaljuran. Parts of his speech are:
“The suicide bomber used at the attack in Gaziantep was actually a child. And, on the other hand, the rockets fired from the other side of Syria by DAESH have targeted Turkey. Where does DAESH get these weapons? Let’s say they initially got them from the forces where they went. Two years have passed over that and weapons of DAESH do not lessen. This must be questioned, too. The aim of this operation is to sweep DAESH down from north. Our tanks at one hand, all of our other sources on the other, we continue on this battle. Free Syrian Army (FSA), which we called ‘moderate opposition forces’, has also entered there. And, our tanks are also doing what it takes to safeguard their (FSA) passages. Plans of TSK (Turkish Armed Forces) are being actualized without disruption. We are going to keep our fight with all terrorist organizations. Because, the perpetrators of the last two terorist attacks in Ankara had come from the camps in Syria. The target of these operations are against that. So, why is Salih Muslim and YPG/PYD bothered? Weren’t they claiming that they were also fighting against these forces? We thank them; they are now confessing the things that we have been trying to tell everyone. They say ‘Our issue is not with DAESH; we are trying to establish a Kurdish canton.’ So, the secret agenda of PYD is actually obvious. And, the YPG forces within SDF must immediately move to the east of Euphrates. Otherwise, as Turkey, we are going to do what is necessary! You should not think about what Turkey is going to do there; you should think of yourself. Our goal is not to kill mosquitoes; it is to dry up the swamp! And, you are a terrorist organization, too. Our operations against all terrorist organizations are going to continue… Whoever is living in the regions that are evacuated, those regions belong to them. In certain cities, they have also forced our Kurdish citizens to migrate, too. They have carried out ethnic cleansing everywhere they went by forcing Arabs and Kurds who do not think like them to move out.”