Ibrahim Kalin, the President’s spokesman, told Al Jazeera that Ankara will target the Kurdish groups PKK, YPG and PYD to protect its borders.
The Turkish Presidency spokesman told Al Jazeera that Kurdish armed groups in Syria were “legitimate targets” and accused them of exploiting ties with the United States to justify their presence along Turkey’s border with Syria.
In an interview with Al Jazeera, Ibrahim Kalin said Ankara is after the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its offshoots, the Kurdish People’s Defense Units (YPG) and Democratic Union Party (PYD) groups, to protect its borders.
Ankara has blamed the banned PKK, YPG and their affiliated groups for the Nov. 13 blast in Istanbul, as well as previous attacks. The PKK has been waging a bloody armed uprising for autonomy in southeastern Turkey for decades. Ankara, along with its NATO allies – the US and the European Union – have declared the PKK a “terrorist” organization.
“For us, all PKK, PYD and YPG establishments, elements, posts and military points are legitimate targets for us,” Kalin said during the interview with the Talk to Al Jazeera program, regardless of whether they are located in Syria or Turkey.
“They are legitimate targets because they are terrorist organizations,” he continued. “We track them to protect our borders. We are not targeting Russian or American soldiers or military posts in Syria or anywhere else.”
Kalin went on to say that in the past, the PKK, PYD and YPG “elements” have used American and Syrian regime flags to “protect themselves”.
“That alone shows the extent to which the PYD and YPG are using their alliance with the United States to legitimize their own presence in northern Syria,” he said.
The President’s spokesman said that the recent “terrorist” attack on Istanbul’s Istiklal Street prompted Turkey to react. The perpetrator, a Syrian of Kurdish descent, was trained there by Kurdish fighters, the government said.
“Our first response was to coordinate and conduct a series of flight operations,” Kalin said. “And of course, depending on the threat level assessed by our intelligence and our Department of Air Defense and related agencies, we will pursue these terrorists, whether from the air or from the ground.”
Turkey has ramped up its shelling and airstrikes into northern Syria in recent weeks, preparing a ground invasion against the YPG, a Kurdish-majority force that dominates the Syrian-based Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). Ankara reportedly attacked several SDF military bases in the Syrian city of Raqqa.
Belghan Ozturk, a security analyst, said the Istanbul bombing was “a red line for Turkey’s state stability and national security.”
“So the YPG launched rocket attacks in retaliation for the Turkish airstrikes,” said Ozturk of Denver, Colorado. “Turkey wants to ensure that the YPG has not been able to carry out further attacks – inside Turkey and cross-border missile attacks.”
The delay could be due to the opposition Turkey is facing from several international powers involved in Syria, including Iran, Russia and the United States.
On Friday, the SDF, which controls territory in northern Syria, said it would no longer participate in joint counterterrorism operations with the US and other allies following the Turkish attacks. The SDF says it has documented about 70 attacks since the operation was announced.
A spokesman for the SDF said that “all coordinated and joint counter-terrorism operations” with the US-led coalition to counter the remnants of ISIL (ISIS) in Syria, as well as “all joint special operations that we regularly conducted” had been halted.