Erdogan Vows Syria Campaign Against Kurds as U.S. Talks Stall

(Bloomberg) -- Turkey says it's getting ready for a military incursion into Syria to push U.S.-backed Kurdish rebels away from its border, in a sign Ankara is running out of patience as talks with Washington on a joint operation drag on.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his military would soon move to establish a buffer zone in northern Syria, suggesting he's willing to defy U.S. opposition to Turkey going it alone.

“Turkey has the right to eliminate all threats to its survival without the help of its allies,” Erdogan told a meeting of Turkish ambassadors in Ankara. “Turkey won't feel secure unless the group that's been strengthened with heavy weaponry from our allies is destroyed.”

The U.S. aided the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia as a vital component of its campaign to defeat Islamic State. For Ankara, the militant group is a mortal enemy because of its links to another Kurdish separatist movement that Turkey has been fighting for over three decades. That group, the PKK, is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and European Union.

Erdogan's remarks could undercut U.S. attempts to talk their Turkish counterparts out of taking matters into their own hands. U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper cited some progress in negotiations, according to a report by the Associated Press. But two senior Turkish officials familiar with the discussions said the two sides were deadlocked.

About Kurdish Forces U.S. Would Leave Behind in Syria: QuickTake

Turkey wants the Kurdish militia pushed back at least 30 kilometers (19 miles) from the shared border in order to disrupt its supply networks, the two officials said, asking not to be identified as talks are still underway. Ankara also wants the dominant role in policing the corridor, they said. The U.S. opposes both demands, according to the officials.

Turkey has begun one of its biggest military mobilizations near the border in recent years, focusing on the towns of Akcakale and Ceylanpinar, across from Syria's Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, a senior military official said, asking not to be identified in line with regulations that bar him from speaking publicly.

Erdogan wants to dismantle the embryonic proto-state Kurdish forces have established in northern Syria amid years of civil war, saying it could be used by the PKK to launch attacks on Turkish territory.

President Donald Trump backtracked on his decision announced late last year to pull all 2,000 American forces from Syria after it ran into widespread opposition in Congress, where lawmakers accused him of dumping its key Kurdish ally and delivering a boost for Islamic State. European allies also opposed the move, and Trump later committed to keeping 400 soldiers in the country.

To contact the reporter on this story: Firat Kozok in Ankara at fkozok@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, ;Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, ;Benjamin Harvey at bharvey11@bloomberg.net, Mark Williams, Amy Teibel