Turkish Presidential Spokesman Ibrahim Kalın
The Manbij roadmap agreed-upon by Turkey and the U.S. should be put into practice as soon as possible, the Turkish presidential aide said on Wednesday.
"The delaying tactic started becoming a growing problem. Manbij roadmap should be implemented as soon as possible," Ibrahim Kalın said, speaking to reporters following a Cabinet meeting at the presidential complex.
Kalın added that Turkey "can take steps at any time to ensure its national security against terror groups in Syria".
The Manbij deal between Turkey and the U.S. focuses on the withdrawal of the PKK-affiliated YPG terrorist group from the city in order to stabilize the region.
The U.S. is seeking to eliminate the border between Iraq and Syria and merge the territories invaded by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) terrorists, which it has deemed its land forces, to exploit underground resources, starting from Iraq’s Kirkuk to Mosul and all the way to Syria’s Raqqa.Raqqa Local Council Member Ekrem Dede spoke exclusively to Yeni Şafak daily and unveiled the striking details about the U.S.-led energy corridor in the region, stating that American, French and British companies have queued up for the drilling and export of hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of oil and gas.He stressed that the number of officials in these oil-rich territories, including private companies, who came to inspect the site in last two months alone has exceeded 400.“The feasibility studies of the U.S. are currently in progress. In parallel to this project, the number of U.S. officials has been doubled in the last six months in the countryside of Syria’s Hasakah, Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor. A significant number of these figures work in the oil and construction field,” he added.Number of US diplomats doubled in Syria: Pentagon chief “Weapons delivery route to PKK is now being used for oil transfer”Underlining the alliance between the Kurdistan Workers’ Party ( PKK) terror organization and Washington administration, “U.S.’s oil shipments to the regime refineries in the regions occupied by PKK terrorists have stopped and all the petroleum has been transferred to Iraq. The U.S. is now using the same route for its oil shipment, the one they used for weapons deliveriesy to PKK terrorists in the past. There is a clandestine pipeline in this region that was built in former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s era. On the other hand, they will construct an overt oil pipeline in near future in this region,”, Dede said.US doubles its diplomats in SyriaHe also said that France and the U.S. demanded $600 million from Gulf countries for the reconstruction of Raqqa where they took part in its destruction. They seek to undertake both the operation and the construction of the cities they destroyed.U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis also reported that the number of U.S. diplomats in Syria has doubled under the pretext of fighting Daesh but a specific number is still unknown. "Our diplomats there on the ground have been doubled in number. As we see the military operations becoming less, we will see the diplomatic effort now able to take (root)," U.S. Defense Secretary Mattis said on Tuesday. Justice, goodwill cooperation can fight terror: Parliament Speaker“US wants to remove the borders”The Iraqi Turkmen Front's representative in Turkey Hicran Kazancı also evaluated the developments and asserted that the U.S. is seeking autonomy for Kirkuk that is based on separating it first from the central government and later handing it over to the Barzani administration.He said that the U.S.’s first aim is to abolish the border between Iraq and Syria and create a single zone by merging Raqqa, Hasakah Deir ez- Zor, Kirkuk, Tal afar , Arbil and Sulemaniyah.Kazancı stated that this initiative is not only political, it also has a covert aim to exploit the underground resources of the region.US troops arrive in Turkey for Manbij patrol training
US seeks to merge regions in Iraq, Syria to exploit oil, gas resources
Washington has claimed the YPG is a “reliable ally” in the fight against Daesh, while Ankara has pointed to its status as an offshoot of the PKK, a recognized terrorist group which has taken some 40,000 lives in Turkey.
Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity. This led to a military conflict between the Syrian opposition groups and the Assad regime over the war-torn country’s territory.
Iran has been supporting the Assad regime during the war while Russia intervened in September 2015. Peace talks were launched in Geneva in 2012 aiming to find a political solution for the conflict while Astana talks began in 2017 discussing cease-fire that has been fragile so far.
Hundreds of thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict mainly by regime airstrikes targeting opposition-held areas while millions more were displaced. During the conflict, Assad regime was accused many times by various international actors of targeting Syrian civilians with chemical weapons.
Turkey's National Defense Ministry on Tuesday evening said the first batch of U.S. army personnel have arrived in Turkey to join training for a joint patrol activity in Manbij, Syria.A statement on the ministry's official website said efforts to start the training are ongoing."Within this scope, the first group of personnel from the U.S. Armed Forces have arrived in Turkey," the ministry said."Following the completion of training, joint patrols will start," it added.Turkey's Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in August 2016 and ended in March 2017, was aimed at eliminating the terrorist threat along the Turkish border with the use of the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish artillery and air cover.On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin. On March 18, Turkish troops and the Free Syrian Army liberated the Afrin district center.The patrols are the next phase in the fight against terrorists.
US troops arrive in Turkey for Manbij patrol training