“We cannot fight terrorism while waiting for permission from anyone.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan did not hide his impatience from journalists, returning from a visit to Azerbaijan.
The Turkish president reaffirmed his intention to launch a new military operation in northern Syria, announced on Monday, despite the warning from the United States.
The latter had said, through the voice of the spokesperson for the American State Department Ned Price, “deeply concerned” by this announcement.
“What will we do if the United States does not do its part in the fight against terrorism?
We will manage on our own,” Erdogan replied.
Since 2016, Ankara has carried out three offensives in northern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish militia which it considers terrorist but which has been supported by the United States in particular to counter the jihadists of the Islamic State group.
No more open to NATO
Asked moreover about the NATO accession process for Sweden and Finland, which Ankara has opposed so far, the Turkish president judged that the discussions on Wednesday in Ankara between the Swedish, Finnish and Turkish delegations had not been "meeting the expectations" of Turkey.
Erdogan again accused the two Nordic countries of "supporting terrorism", believing that Sweden is neither "sincere" nor "honest".
Turkey accuses the two countries, in particular Sweden which has a large community of Turkish exiles, of harboring Kurdish militants from the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party, considered a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.
She also denounces the presence on their soil of supporters of the preacher Fethullah Gülen, whom she accuses of having orchestrated the coup attempt of July 2016.
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Turkey
Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Syria
UNITED STATES
Jihadism
Terrorism
NATO