Emin Avundukluoğlu
08 February 2017•Update: 09 February 2017
By Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA
Turkey and other regional powers should provide special forces troops for the eventual assault on Daesh’s Syrian stronghold, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday.
“We, as the regional countries and the countries in the coalition, can activate our special forces,” he said in a televised news conference with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir. “We should do so.”
The U.S.-led coalition has been planning to launch operations against Raqqah, the last major city fully under Daesh’s control following the partial recapture of Mosul in Iraq. U.S. and other Western special forces have already been reported to be operating in the area around the northern city.
Turkish special forces are thought to be fighting to retake the town of Al-Bab from Daesh.
Speaking after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Tuesday night call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Cavusoglu pledged Turkey’s support in fighting Daesh.
However, he warned that the U.S.’s continued use of the PKK/PYD as a “reliable partner” on the ground was “very dangerous for the future of Syria.”
Turkey considers the PKK/PYD to be a terrorist group -- like its Turkey-based parent organization the PKK, which is listed as a terror organization by the U.S. and EU -- and has repeatedly called on Washington to end support for the PKK/PYD.
“The Raqqah operation should not be made with terrorist groups but [with] true partners,” Cavusoglu said. “Soon, I believe that we will defeat Daesh in Syria and Iraq.”
