JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday Turkey's air operations against Kurdish militias in northern Syria were just the beginning and would launch ground operations if the time was right, after the escalation of the retaliatory attacks.
He explained that Turkey was more determined to secure its southern border with a "security corridor" while ensuring the territorial integrity of Syria and Iraq, where Turkey has also carried out operations against Kurdish militants.
"We are continuing air operations and will attack terrorists from the ground at the most appropriate time for us," President Erdogan told lawmaker AK in a speech in parliament.
"We have formed a part of this corridor (and) will take care of it starting from places such as Tel Rifat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (Kobani), which are the source of the problem," he added.
Turkey and its Syrian rebel proxies took control of the border areas west and east of the Kobani region, in previous military attacks.
Russia has asked Turkey to refrain from full-scale ground attacks in Syria, Russia's senior negotiator Alexander Lavrentyev said on Wednesday, after a round of new talks on Syria with Turkish and Iranian delegations in Kazakhstan.
Meanwhile, the United States has raised serious concerns to Turkey, a NATO ally, about the impact of escalation on its goal of fighting ISIS militants in Syria.
Turkey has previously launched a military strike in Syria against Kurdish YPG militias, considering it a wing of the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey, the United States, and the European Union designated as terrorist groups.
Ankara launched an air operation on the weekend in retaliation for Istanbul's bomb attack a week earlier that killed six people, and blamed YPG. No one has claimed responsibility, while PKK and YPG have denied involvement.
Separately, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said the army had hit 471 targets in Syria and Iraq since the weekend. His ministry quoted him as saying the 254 militants had been "banped".
The YPG-led Commander of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mazloum Abdi, said in an interview with news website Al-Monitor, his hometown, Kobani, would be the "true target" of any ground attack, becoming a strategic interest for Turkey in connecting areas in Syria it already controls.
Selai itu, dia mengkritik 'jembagapan yang lemah' oleh Rusia dan Washington terhadap serangan udara Turki.
To note, the United States has allied with the SDF in the war against ISIS in Syria, causing a deep rift with Turkey.
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