Despite joint patrols, Erdogan threatens to carry out special plans

ARK News: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to implement "special plans" in Syria if the establishment of a "safe zone" east of the Euphrates in Syrian Kurdistan does not start with Turkish soldiers, accusing the United States of seeking to protect "Kurdish militants," according to him.

Erdogan, in a speech delivered on Sunday 8 September 2019 during the opening of a number of development projects in the central province of Malatya, to the existence of great differences between Turkey and the United States on this issue, and he said in this context: “We hold talks with Washington on the safe area, but in every step we take to see that what we want is not the same thing that goes on in their minds”.

"It seems that our ally (the United States) is seeking to create a safe area for the benefit of our enemy and not for Turkey, which we reject," he said.

"While we aim to eliminate the organizations that are nesting in the region, Washington is trying to put us in the same sense of dealing with them," he continued.

Erdogan added threating "if we do not start establishing a safe zone with our soldiers in the east of the Euphrates before the end of September, we will have no choice but to implement our own plans”.

Erdogan stressed that "the safe area cannot be achieved by flying 3 - 5 helicopters or conducting 5 - 10 patrols or deploy a few hundred soldiers in the region in a formative," noting that "the entire region must be effectively made safe in its cities and countryside so that the housing of one million Someone there. ”

The first joint ground patrol between the Turkish and US armies began on Sunday as part of the activities of the first phase of the establishment of the safe zone.

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