Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar
Turkey will not tolerate a step taken against the country in the Aegean or Eastern Mediterranean, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said on Monday.
Speaking during a military drill in Ankara, Akar said: "Everybody should know that any project in the Aegean or Mediterranean of which Turkey and Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus are not included, does not have a chance to survive."
On Thursday, a Greek frigate trying to interfere with Barbaros Hayreddin Paşa, a Turkish seismic vessel working in the eastern Mediterranean, was blocked by the Turkish navy.
The incident prompted an immediate response from Turkish officials, who warned Greece against taking actions in the Mediterranean Sea that would spark tensions in the region.
Akar also said that in last two months, approximately 450 terrorists, including so-called leaders, were "neutralized" in Turkey and abroad during operations.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.
A nine-member U.S. delegation, consisting of four of the CIA’s Middle East specialists and five State Department officials, held a closed-door meeting with so-called senior political and military representatives of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) at the U.S. base in Manbij on Oct. 19.The committee, under intense protection, first visited Syria’s Hasakah and then moved on to Manbij.According to local sources, Washington warned PKK terrorists regarding the implementation of the Manbij deal and instructed them to not to cause any problems during the withdrawal process from the city and the joint patrols of U.S. and Turkey.The Manbij deal signed between Turkey and the U.S. in June focuses on the withdrawal of YPG/PKK terrorists from the city to stabilize the region, which is in the northeast of the Aleppo province in northern Syria.The U.S. delegation also told PKK terrorists to be careful in their statements to the press.Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and U.S. President Donald Trump held a phone conversation and discussed cooperation in the fight against terrorism and the roadmap on Syria's Manbij early on Monday.Earlier, Erdoğan had warned that Ankara "will do what is necessary" to ensure that the PKK’s Syrian offshoot, the YPG terror organization, leaves Manbij as per the agreement with the United States.Erdoğan, Trump hold phone conversation on KhashoggiTurkish army neutralizes 33 terrorists over past weekNGO and tribal representatives convey grievances about PKKFollowing the PKK meeting, U.S. officials reportedly also gathered with representatives of NGOs and tribes in Manbij to listen their complaints.Yeni Şafak daily’s local source from Manbij divulged the details of the meeting and said that the main complaints of the tribal leaders were the PKK’s money extortion and their attempts to force children to join the terror organization.He said that U.S. representatives stressed that “We don’t want a new war here stemming from PKK terrorists.”The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.
US delegation meets with PKK terrorists in Syria, warns them about Manbij deal