ISTANBUL: Turkey and the US can join forces to turn Daesh’s de facto capital of Raqqa in Syria into a “graveyard” for the terrorists, the Turkish president said on Saturday.
“The huge America, the coalition and Turkey can join hands and turn Raqqa into a graveyard for Daesh,” Recep Tayyip Erdogan told an Istanbul meeting.
“They will look for a place for themselves to hide,” he said.
Erdogan’s comments come ahead of a meeting with President Donald Trump on May 16 in the US.
Turkey sees the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Syria as a terrorist group linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging a deadly insurgency against Ankara since 1984.
But for the US, the YPG is essential in the fight against Daesh.
Erdogan repeated his call to the US to cease its support of the YPG in combating Daesh. “The YPG, and you know who’s supporting them, are attacking us with mortars. But we will make those places their grave, there is no stopping,” Erdogan said.
Meanwhile, Turkey’s military killed 14 members of the PKK in airstrikes in northern Iraq, the military said in a statement.
Six militants were killed around the area of Sinat-Haftan and eight in the countryside around Adiyaman in two separate airstrikes, the military said.
The PKK, which has carried out a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state, has camps in the mountains of northern Iraq, near the Turkish border.
In another development, Turkey’s military has relocated a convoy of armored vehicles and personnel carriers to a base near the Syrian border, local media and activists reported Saturday.
Footage shot Friday night showed a long line of trucks carrying military vehicles driving to the area. The private Ihlas news agency reported the convoy was heading to southeastern Sanliurfa province from Kilis in the west.
The agency said the relocation comes after Turkish officials announced the completion of a phase of Turkey’s cross-border operation in Syria, adding that the force may be used against Syrian Kurdish militants “if needed.”
Turkish officials announced the conclusion of Operation Euphrates Shield in March but have said they would continue combatting terror to make its borders safe, pointing to both Daesh and Kurdish militants.
Turkey, US can turn Raqqa into ‘graveyard’ for Daesh: Erdogan
Turkey, US can turn Raqqa into ‘graveyard’ for Daesh: Erdogan
Iranian FM slams WEF’s double standards after revoking his invite, but keeping Israeli President’s
DUBAI: Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has criticised the World Economic Forum (WEF) for rescinding his invitation to the annual meeting in Davos amid his government’s harsh crackdown on nationwide protests, accusing the forum of succumbing to Western pressure and applying “blatant double standards.”
The WEF confirmed that Araghchi will not attend this year’s summit, running until Jan. 23, saying that “although he was invited last fall, the tragic loss of lives of civilians in Iran over the past few weeks means that it is not right for the Iranian government to be represented at Davos this year.”
In a series of posts on X, Araghchi rejected the decision, claiming his appearance was cancelled “on the basis of lies and political pressure from Israel and its U.S.‑based proxies and apologists.”
The Iranian minister criticised what he called the WEF’s “blatant double standards” for keeping an invitation open to Israel’s president despite ongoing allegations of civilian deaths in Gaza. He also referenced Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s participation in last year’s forum in Davos in January 2024 despite facing charges of genocide at the International Criminal Court.
“If WEF wants to feign a supposedly ‘moral’ stance, that is its prerogative. But it should at least be consistent about it,” Araghchi wrote, arguing that the decision exposed a “moral depravity and intellectual bankruptcy.”
