Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said Feb. 18 that Turkey will be part of an operation to liberate the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) bastion of Raqqa, though not directly, if a deal with U.S.-led coalition forces can be reached.
“We will not be directly inside an operation [on Raqqa], we will provide tactical support, of course if we agree in principle,” state-run Anadolu Agency quoted Yıldırım as saying on Feb. 18 in Germany, where he went to attend the Munich Security Conference.
“The opportunities and capabilities are being reviewed,” he said.
Yıldırım said that “local forces, civil insurgents, Free Syrian Army (FSA) and other militia” would go in the forefront as one group and “we will be in the back,” adding that the U.S. and Turkey would have military presence at the Raqqa operation.
Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is a U.S.-backed militia that is mostly comprised of Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Unit (YPG) and some Arab rebels, have launched a multi-phased operation to liberate Raqqa of ISIL militants at the end of last year.
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Turkey regards the YPG, which is the military wing of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), as a terror organization due to its links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).