Turkey to Launch Own Plan Unless its Troops Control Syria Buffer

(Bloomberg) -- President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey will put its own operational plan into effect in northern Syria unless Turkish troops take control of a planned buffer zone along its border within weeks.

If Turkish soldiers don’t begin to control the area east of the Euphrates within two to three weeks Turkey will implement its own plan, Erdogan said at a military academy graduation ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday.

Earlier this month, U.S. and Turkish officials agreed to set up a joint operations center to coordinate efforts to carve out a buffer zone in northern Syria and drive American-backed Kurdish militants away from the Turkish border.

But Turkey doesn’t have much time or patience, Erdogan said. He is due to meet U.S. President Donald Trump next month.

Turkey has repeatedly vowed to launch an offensive against the Kurdish YPG militia, which it sees as a threat to its territorial integrity. Turkey wants a planned buffer zone in northern Syria to be more than 32 kilometers (20 miles) deep in some areas, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman Erdogan said last week.

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