Turkey will soon launch a new military operation along its southern borders to combat terrorism threats to these regions, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday.
The new operation will resume efforts to create 30-kilometer (18.6-mile) wide safe zones along Turkey’s border with Syria, Erdoğan said in a televised address after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara.
"We will soon take new steps regarding the incomplete portions of the project we started on the 30-kilometer deep safe zone we established along our southern border," the president said.
"The main target of these operations will be areas that are centers of attacks to our country and safe zones," Erdoğan noted.
He did not provide further details but said the operation would be launched as soon as military, intelligence and security forces have completed their preparations
Turkey borders Syria and Iraq to its south and has worked to eliminate existing terrorist bases and prevent new ones that would threaten national security and the safety of locals across its borders.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents – namely, Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.
In its more than 40-year campaign against Turkey, the PKK – listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union – has been responsible for the deaths of over 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
The signaling of a new operation comes amid increasingly hostile sentiment toward refugees in the country, fuelled by some parties and political figures. Chairperson of the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu and other politicians had announced they would send back Syrian refugees if they win next year's presidential and parliamentary elections. However, the debate on migrants living in Turkey is mainly fuelled by the small far-right Victory Party (ZP).
Erdoğan has recently announced that Ankara is planning to build another 200,000 homes for Syrians in safe zones close to the border.
"With financing from international aid groups, we've been working on a project to construct 200,000 homes at 13 different locations in Syria to relocate 1 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey, including schools and hospitals," Erdoğan said earlier this month.
Ankara has frequently criticized Western countries for not upholding their support for the Syrian opposition in the face of the regime's ongoing oppression and violent acts against civilians in the country as well as the lack of support for Turkey’s initiative to ensure peace and stability in the country’s north.
Currently, Turkey hosts nearly 3.8 million Syrian migrants, more than any other country in the world. The country also leads humanitarian aid efforts for Syrians in Turkey and opposition-controlled areas of northern Syria.
Support for terrorist groups
Erdoğan’s comments also come as Turkey is objecting to Sweden and Finland’s membership in the NATO alliance, citing the two countries' alleged support for the PKK and other terrorist groups, as well as their decision to impose restrictions on military sales to Turkey following Ankara’s military operation into Syria in 2019.
Moreover, over the last five years, both Sweden and Finland have failed to agree to Ankara's extradition requests for dozens of terrorists, including members of the PKK and the Gülenist Terrorist Group (FETÖ), the group behind the 2016 defeated coup in Turkey.
Finland and Sweden will send delegations to Ankara on Wednesday to try to resolve Turkish opposition to their applications for membership of the NATO military alliance, Finland's foreign minister Pekka Haavisto said on Tuesday.
"We are sending our delegations to visit Ankara, actually both Sweden and Finland. This will happen tomorrow so the dialogue is continuing," Haavisto said during a panel discussion in Davos.
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24 has swung political and public opinion in Finland and neighboring Sweden in favor of NATO membership as a deterrent against Russian aggression.
Sweden and Finland formally submitted applications for NATO membership to Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg last week.
All 30 members of the alliance must agree before new members can join.
Finnish and Swedish diplomats plan to travel to Ankara to discuss commitments in the fight against terrorism and potential arms deals, among others.
Ankara's main demands are for the Nordic countries to halt support for the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG – which have a presence in both countries – and that they lift their bans on sales of certain arms to Turkey. Ankara argues that it is inappropriate for prospective members of the security pact to uphold the arms ban.
Negotiations with Turkey on Sweden's membership in NATO will take some more time, the Swedish prime minister said Monday.
Magdalena Andersson told Swedish official news agency TT that her meeting with Erdoğan was "good and positive."
"Sweden and Finland will continue bilateral and tripartite negotiations with Turkey in the near future but these will take some time," she said.
Stressing that she was looking forward to the upcoming negotiations with Ankara, Andersson said Sweden was one of the first countries that classified the PKK as terrorists.
On the other hand, the Presidency's Communications Directorate on the same day said that Turkey’s stance on the Swedish bid to join NATO is clear and that Ankara expects Stockholm to provide concrete assurances under the alliance's "collective security principle."
The Swedish administration pledged to provide $376 million "in support to the PKK/PYD," the statement added, referring to the PKK's so-called political branch in Syria. It went on to note that the PKK has been designated as a terrorist organization by 38 countries, including NATO and European Union members, and that it targets "the national security of alliance member Turkey."
As for the arms support to the terrorist group, it read: "The Swedish government provides military equipment, especially anti-tanks and drones, to the PKK/PYD." It also noted that such weapons were used to target the civilian population in Turkey.
‘Mitsotakis no longer exists’
Commenting on ties with neighbor Greece, Erdoğan said during his speech that Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis "no longer exists" for him, accusing the Greek leader of trying to block sales of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey during a visit to the United States.
"We had agreed to not include third countries in our dispute with him. Despite this, last week, he had a visit to the U.S. and talked at the Congress and warned them not to give F-16s to us," Erdoğan said.
"He no longer exists for me. I will never agree to meet with him. We will continue our way with honourable politicians."
Turkey and Greece, both NATO allies, have been at odds over a host of issues such as maritime boundaries, the extent of their continental shelves, airspace and the divided island of Cyprus.