Erdogan warns YPG not to rely on US support

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday his forces would crush the US-backed Syrian-Kurdish YPG militia, saying it could not rely on Washington's support to defeat Turkey.

Speaking to a congress of his ruling AK Party in the northwestern city of Bursa, a day after Turkey launched an air and ground offensive in the northwestern Syrian enclave of Afrin to clear it of US-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters, Erdogan also accused some of Turkey's allies of providing 2,000 plane shipments and 5,000 truckloads of weapons to the YPG, a comment that appeared aimed at the US.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) and US President Donald Trump shake hands prior to their meeting in New York, Sept. 21, 2017. /AP Photo

Warning Kurds not to protest

Erdogan warned Kurds in Turkey not to take to the streets and protest the Turkish military's operations against a Kurdish-run enclave in Syria.

Erdogan said Sunday those who heed calls by a Kurdish party for protests will "pay a high price."

He said: "This is a national struggle. We will crush anyone who opposes our national struggle."

Erdogan said Afrin was a predominantly Arab area and that Turkey was determined to return it to its rightful owners.

Turkey considers the YPG to be an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged a three-decade insurgency in Turkey's largely Kurdish southeast. The US has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIL in Syria.

France urges Turkey to 'act with restraint'

The French foreign ministry said France is calling for a UN Security Council emergency meeting over the deteriorating situation in Syria.

The ministry said in a written statement that French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian spoke to his Turkish counterpart, Mevlut Cavusoglu, by phone Sunday.

France urged Turkish authorities "to act with restraint in a context where the humanitarian situation is deteriorating in several regions of Syria," the statement said.

France also condemned the "indiscriminate bombings" targeting inhabited areas and medical centers led by the Syrian regime in the northwestern province of Idlib in recent weeks.

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Source(s): AP ,Reuters