Those Leaders Must Be Eliminated As Soon As Possible: Erdogan

Turkey expects foreign countries to stop their support for Kurdish militants in Syria following the downfall of Bashar al-Assad, announced Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. This was reported by Al Jazeera.

Speaking to reporters on his way back from a summit in Egypt, Erdogan stated that there is no longer any reason for external powers to support the Kurdish fighters of the "People's Protection Units" (YPG).

"We do not believe that any force will continue to cooperate with terrorist organizations in the near future. The leaders of terrorist organizations such as ISIS and PKK-YPG must be eliminated as soon as possible," Erdogan said.

The YPG is the main force of the coalition known as the "Syrian Democratic Forces" (SDF) in northeastern Syria, which receives support from the United States. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has long fought against the Turkish state and is included in the lists of "terrorist" organizations by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.