Erdogan tells Putin that Assad will face consequences if Syrian troops deployed to Afrin
The Syrian government will “face consequences" if it concludes an agreement with Kurdish militia in Afrin, where Turkey is conducting military operation Olive branch,Turkey's President Recep Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a telephone conversation, Turkish NTV channel reports.
During the talks, Putin and Erdogan discussed the problems in Afrin and in Idlib province. "If the Syrian regime goes down this path [agreement with the Kurds], there will be consequences," Erdogan told Putin, the TV channel CNN Turk reports.
Turkey’s statement is not mentioned in Kremlin's official communication. It is only reported that the Presidents discussed "issues of further strengthening the cooperation in Astana format", as well as the fact that "the situation in the north-west of Syria was affected, including the Turkish military operation in Afrin".
The Turkish president also shared with Putin information about the progress of Turkey’s military operation "Olive Branch" in Afrin adding that the operation will continue, reports Turkish Anadolu news agency.
On Monday, February 19, the Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned the Syrian government against concluding an agreement with the Kurdish PYD (Democratic Union Party) and PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party). According to him, if the supporters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad enter Afrin to fight the Kurds "there will be no problems". "If they try to protect terrorists from the participants of operation Olive Branch, I can clearly state that nobody will stop us," Cavusoglu stressed.
According to Afrin’s government spokesperson, Badran Jia Kurd, Syrian troops will be deployed to Afrin Canton to repel the attack of Turkey. Syrian agency SANA also reported that Syrian pro-government troops will enter Afrin in the near future to repel the Turkish aggression.
Turkey has been conducting military operation Olive Branch in Afrin since January 20. Ankara argues that the purpose of the operation is to create a corridor at the border and fight the Kurdish military forces whom Turkey considers to be terrorists.