Turkey will do what is necessary to counteract the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) and its offshoots, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday.
“The fight against terrorism is not optional, it is a must for us. We will not tolerate terrorist organizations,” said Erdoğan.
“Turkey knows what to do and when to do it. We may come there overnight all of a sudden,” he added, referring to cross-border counterterrorism operations targeting terrorist groups on Turkey’s southern border.
Airstrikes earlier this week targeted PKK and its Syrian-affiliate Democratic Union Party's (PYD) armed wing People Protection Units (YPG) on Sinjar Mountain in Iraq and Karachok Mountain in Syria. Both areas are approximately 90 kilometers from Turkey’s southern border.
Erdoğan also condemned the use of terrorist groups like the YPG-dominated Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to combat Daesh.
“The terrorists who attack us [Turkey] today will one day turn around and attack them too,” he said.
The president also said that if the U.S. and Turkey work together against Daesh in Syria, they can turn Raqqa into a “Daesh graveyard.”
Erdoğan said that he would discuss the partnership of Turkey and the U.S. against Daesh during his meeting with President Donald Trump on May 16.
