Turkey will eliminate the People’s Protection Units (YPG) from the Syrian border if Ankara does not reach an agreement with Washington on a plan to remove the terrorist organization from Syria's Manbij region, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday.
"If this plan is not actualized, the only option left will be to eliminate the terrorists. This is not just valid for Syria, but also for Iraq," he said.
“The structure of administration and security will be determined by the demography of Manbij once the YPG retreats,” he added.
The YPG is the armed wing of the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which is the Syrian offshoot of the Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK). The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.
Çavuşoğlu also said that Turkey would not allow looting in Afrin, which was liberated on Sunday by Turkish-backed troops. Afrin had been a major hideout for the YPG/PKK since 2012.
He said all complaints about looting would be taken seriously. "When there are complaints on such an issue, we have to take it seriously."
“We -- the Turkish nation, state and government -- are against everything inhumane. Turkish soldiers and the Free Syrian Army are not like the YPG/PKK terrorists,” Çavuşoğlu said.
Operation Olive Branch was initiated on Jan. 20 in Afrin to establish security and stability, eliminate terrorists of PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh, and save locals from the terrorists’ oppression and cruelty.
He added that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and President Donald Trump will speak by telephone on Thursday.
