Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has accused Russia and the US of failing to keep their promises to hold the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from its border in northern Syria.
“Russia and the US also bear the responsibility for the recent attacks because they didn’t keep their word. Now, these terrorists are here and ramping up the attacks,” Cavusoglu told reporters at a press conference here on Wednesday.
“We will do whatever it takes to clear these terrorists from these regions,” he said.
According to authorities in Ankara, policemen from the Turkish special operation forces were killed in a guided missile attack by the YPG forces from Tel Rifat town of northern Syria on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported.
Five shells fired from an area controlled by the YPG in Syria exploded in Karkamis district of the southern province of Gaziantep, its Governor said Monday.
A US condemnation of the attacks on Turkey was insincere because Washington was arming the YPG, Cavusoglu said.
The Minister was referring to separate agreements that Turkey reached with the US and Russia in 2019 for the withdrawal of the YPG forces to 30 km south of the Turkish border in northern Syria.
The YPG and affiliated groups are designated as terrorist organisations by only Turkey and Qatar.