Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu affirmed Thursday before his U.S. counterpart Antony Blinken his country’s fight «against terrorism» in Syria.
Cavusoglu emphasized that Turkey’s fight against terrorism will continue with determination, Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported.
For his part, the U.S. Secretary of State has expressed his concern about the situation in Syria, as his office spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
In addition, Blinken, who has described the conversation as «a good call», has indicated that he hopes to «continue discussions on northeastern Syria».
«Secretary Blinken and Foreign Minister Cavusoglu have stressed the importance of NATO unity in supporting Ukraine’s defense against Russia’s unprovoked war,» the missive reads.
The US secretary has also thanked Ankara for «Turkey’s efforts to quickly renew» the grain export initiative across the Black Sea because it «saves lives,» he posted in a message on his Twitter social network profile.
Turkish authorities signaled earlier this month that they are «not seeking anyone’s consent» in launching a ground offensive against Kurdish groups operating in northern Syria, following several weeks of airstrikes in the area and in northern Iraq.
The spokesman of the Turkish Presidency, Ibrahim Kalin, who stressed that the PKK is responsible for the attack on Istiklal Avenue in Istanbul, indicated that the group «uses people of other nationalities, instead of Syrians or Kurds, to try to cover up its responsibility», as reported by the Turkish daily ‘Daily Sabah’.
On the other hand, he denied that the Turkish bombings in northern Syria posed a threat to the US troops present in the Arab country and stressed that «the (Kurdish-Syrian militia Popular Protection Units) YPG use in some places the US flag and in others that of the (Syrian) regime to protect themselves».
Turkey launched on November 21 the operation ‘Sword Claw’, a bombing campaign against Kurdish groups in northern Iraq and Syria following the attack in Istanbul, although both the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have disassociated themselves from the attack.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
