Turkish Operation Success In Northeast Syria Depends On Coordination With US - CHP Party

The success of Turkey's possible military operation on the eastern shore of the Euphrates river in Syria will depend on coordination with the United States, which is unstable in terms of its policy and can change position at any time, Ozturk Yilmaz, the deputy chairman of the Turkish opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) responsible for foreign relations, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th December, 2018) The success of Turkey's possible military operation on the eastern shore of the Euphrates river in Syria will depend on coordination with the United States, which is unstable in terms of its policy and can change position at any time, Ozturk Yilmaz, the deputy chairman of the Turkish opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) responsible for foreign relations, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously announced that Ankara is ready to launch an operation east of the Euphrates River in Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

"If it is well coordinated with the Unites States, it will have some effect, of course. At least [it will cut] this area of 550 kilometers [342 miles] and will block the corridor ... from the East of the Euphrates River up to the Kurdish area," Yilmaz said, adding that "the United States is not stable in terms of its policy as it "can twist its words and twist its actions anytime."

Erdogan said on Monday that he had told US President Donald Trump that Kurdish fighters must leave the region, stressing that Trump gave a positive response to Turkish plans on the military operation there.

"Trump can change his words, the White House as always may get back from its position, we don't know. But from what we read in the newspapers, President Trump gave the blessing to the operation in the Eastern part of the Euphrates River," Yilmaz noted.

The lawmaker suggested that the aim of the United States in Syria was to "create an Iraqi type of government" there as well as to protect the Kurdish enclave, which could become an autonomous region.

"Turkey's intention is also very clear. Not to allow this corridor which president Erdogan calls a "terror corridor" to gain ground in the future of Syria. This is also a security matter for Turkey," Yilmaz underlined.

The Pentagon said last week that unilateral military action in northeast Syria was "of grave concern" and "unacceptable."

The YPG is part of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). The SDF controls large territories in northeast Syria.