Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced that his country expects from Syrian Kurdish forces to withdraw east of the Euphrates river after they and other US-backed forces seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij from Islamic State fighters. The Syria Democratic Forces, a US-backed alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters captured the city, located near the Turkish border, a victory signifying a strategic blow to the extreme Muslim group, the Islamic State. Turkey views the Kurdish YPG militia as a hostile force, an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, PKK, which has fought a three-decade insurgency in Turkey’s southeast, and which is also considered a terrorist organization by the United States and European Union.
“Obama (U.S. President Barack Obama) promised. The U.S. promised that the (Syrian Kurdish) forces within the coalition and democratic forces there would move east of the Euphrates again following the Manbij operation. Now, the U.S. should keep this promise and the PYD (Kurdish democratic union party) should return east of Euphrates. This is our expectation. We continue to discuss this matter (with the U.S.),” said the Foreign Minister. The operation, in which US Special Forces played a significant role, marks the most ambitious advance by a group allied to Washington in Syria since the United States launched its military campaign against the Islamic State two years ago. US officials have said once the Manbij operation is completed, it would create the conditions to move on the Islamic States’ de-facto capital of Raqqa.