Turkey has closed its airspace to Russian planes flying to Syria, both civilian and military, Turkish media has quoted Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu as saying. State-owned Anatolian Agency reported that Turkish commando teams on Saturday launched a large-scale operation in northern Syria in response to the killing of a Turkish police officer by YPG/PKK terrorists.
The two events may not be connected, however, the long-dormant Syria-Turkey conflict may be rejoined as the pandemic winds down. Assad is still very eager to capture North Western province of Idlib, the northern portion if which is controlled by Turkish Army and its anti-Assad rebel proxies. Erdogan recently stated that the Kurdish political-military entity governing Syrian Kurds called PYD/YPG must be crushed. Within a few hours Turkish jest were bombing a major Syrian Kurdish city Kobane.
The decision to ban the Russian aircraft from Turkish airspace was communicated to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who told Russian President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported. The ban will remain in place for three months, according to the report. The planes are carrying Russian troops to Syria, according to Çavuşoğlu. Russia has not commented on the report. Russia and Turkey have been on opposite sides in Syria’s civil war, with Russia a major supporter of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Meanwhile, Ankara has been working to arrange a summit in Istanbul between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in an attempt to mediate an end to the Russo-Ukraine War.
Turkish special forces in North East Syria
Turkish commando teams on Saturday launched a large-scale operation in northern Syria in response to the killing of a Turkish police officer by YPG/PKK terrorists. To recall, Turkish Army has entered Northern Iraq as part of military campaign dubbed Claw and Lock to purge PKK militants stationed close to her borders.
Launched after the terrorists killed police officer Aytac Altinors on Friday, the operation was supported by artillery fire, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said in a statement.
The ministry also emphasized that any kind of terrorist attack would be met with a heavy response and efforts to destabilize the region would not be tolerated.
At least 50 terrorists have been neutralized in the ongoing operations in the region so far, military sources said.
In its more than 35-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the US and EU — has been responsible for the deaths of at least 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
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