Politics

Turkey: No Syria ground operation with Saudis

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed claims on Monday that his country and Saudi Arabia were preparing for a ground operation in northern Syria.

Ari Khalidi 2016/02/22 15:31

middle east Turkey Syria Kurds YPG Islamic State Saudi Arabia

ANKARA, Turkey (K24) – Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu dismissed claims on Monday that his country and Saudi Arabia were preparing for a ground operation in northern Syria.

At a press conference with his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni, Cavusoglu said Turkey would "never" conduct an operation in Syria on its own or with a second country, K24 bureau in the Turkish capital, Ankara reported.

"If there will be a ground operation, we must do it with other nations. There is a reality: we, 65 countries [members of the anti-IS coalition] have failed in the fight against IS," Cavusoglu told reporters, using an acronym for the Islamic State group that controls large swaths of territory in Iraq and Syria.

The prospects of a Turkish-Saudi ground operation in northern Syria arose after a late January visit by Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to the Saudi capital, Riyadh where he met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz.

At least 20 Saudi warplanes landed at the Incirlik Airbase in southern Turkey two weeks after Davutoglu's visit.

Meanwhile, in a Monday statement on its website, Turkish General Staff announced that Akar was on an official visit to Qatar and Kuwait to attend a meeting of top commanders from US-led anti-IS coalition member countries

The Turkish Foreign Minister insisted on the necessity to defeat IS but complained that there was a lack of "resolve and strategy" in the US-led coalition's fight against the group.

"And now we have pinned our hopes on terrorist organizations like YPG," said Cavusoglu, slamming the US-backed Kurdish Peoples' Protection Units (YPG), considered one of the most effective fighting forces against IS in Syria by Washington.

US support for the YPG has angered Turkey in recent weeks as the latter views the Kurdish group a terrorist organization identical to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which mostly operates in Kurdistan of Turkey and Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Reporting by Nevin Diri

Editing by Benjamin Kweskin and Karzan Sulaivany