ANKARA: Turkey has again boosted its military presence along its southern border to prevent hostile incursions by Kurdish fighters from the People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
Ten trucks carrying tanks and howitzer artillery pieces moved into position on Saturday in Kilis province, immediately across the border from the Kurdish-controlled Afrin region of Syria.
The YPG are US allies in the fight against Daesh in Syria, but Ankara views the group as terrorists, and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has conducted an armed insurgency in Turkey for more than 30 years.
YPG militias have de facto autonomy in parts of northern Syria bordering Turkey, and there was an exchange of fire with Turkish artillery in Afrin in June.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Turkey will not allow “terror groups” to create a corridor in northern Syria. The Turkish military’s Operation Euphrates Shield from August 2016 until March this year targeted Daesh, but also aimed to prevent the YPG from forming such a corridor by linking areas such as Aziz and Manjib.
Turkey views the establishment of a Kurdish entity in northern Syria as a threat to its integrity and national security, said Kadir Ertac Celik, an adviser at the Ankara Center for Crisis and Policy Studies (ANKASAM).
“In this context, Turkey places the protection of the regional status quo and stability at the top of its foreign policy agenda. And if needed, Turkey can launch a military intervention into Afrin region,” he said.
The current rapprochement between Russia and Iran strengthened Turkey’s hand, Celik said.
Ankara has begun identifying its security line beyond its national borders, and it has the ability and determination to intervene against any national threat on legitimate grounds, Celik said.
“This border reinforcement move is a clear message and a precaution vis-a-vis the unfolding geopolitics in northern Syria.”
Turkey has openly expressed its willingness to intervene in the PKK/YPG presence in northern Syria for some time, as manifested by a series of discussions in recent weeks, said Merve Seren, a researcher on security studies at the Foundation for Political, Economic and Social Research (SETA), a think tank in Ankara.
“The visits to Ankara by the Iranian chief of staff, Gen. Mohammad Baqeri, and Jim Mattis, US defense secretary, have been considered as showing support by these countries to Turkey’s counterterrorism efforts against PKK and its offshoots,” he said.
Turkey could launch a partial military intervention into the Tal Rifaat area of northern Aleppo and then into Afrin, Seren said.