Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must be disbanded and has called on the United States to stop supporting it.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Kurdish fighters in Syria will lay down their arms or “be buried,” amid hostilities between Turkiye-backed Syrian rebels and other armed groups since the fall of former Syrian president Bashar al- Assad earlier this month. .
Following the overthrow of al-Assad on December 8, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG militia must be disbanded, stating that the group has no place in Syria's future.
The change in Syria's leadership has left the country's main Kurdish factions on the defensive.
“Separatist killers will say goodbye to their weapons or be buried on Syrian lands along with their weapons,” Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament on Wednesday.
“We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish brothers,” he added.
Turkiye sees the YPG militia – the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) – as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia, which has waged a rebellion against the state. Turkish since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Turkiye, the United States and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.
Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Istanbul, said this is not a surprising statement from Erdogan “as it is the official rhetoric of the Turkish government.”
Since the YPG is considered “the Syrian branch of the PKK, Ankara believes they should lay down their arms or fight and they will be defeated,” Koseoglu said.
Earlier, Turkiye's Defense Ministry said the military had killed 21 YPG-PKK fighters in northern Syria and Iraq.
SDF commander Mazloum Abdi last week acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped fight ISIL (also known as ISIS) fighters and would return home if agreed. a complete ceasefire with Turkiye, a central demand of Ankara. .
He denied any organizational links to the PKK.
Erdogan also said Turkiye would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, adding that Ankara expected an increase in traffic at its borders in the summer of next year as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin to return home.
