Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Wednesday Turkey would "do what is necessary for its security" and said the United States and Russia bore responsibility for cross-border attacks carried out by the YPG/PKK terrorists.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Monday that the Afrin attack [carried out by the U.S.-backed YPG militants, which martyred two Turkish police officers] was "the final straw" and that Turkey was determined to eliminate threats originating in north Syria.
Çavuşoğlu said the United States and Russia had not kept their promises to ensure the YPG withdraw from the Syrian border area and that U.S. condemnations of attacks on Turkey were insincere as Washington was arming the YPG.
Çavuşoğlu said the PKK, and its Syrian offshoot YPG, are targeting Turkey and Ankara is not going to watch the developments as a mere spectator.
He made the remarks at a joint press conference in Turkey's capital Ankara with Denis Moncada Colindres, the minister of foreign affairs of Nicaragua.
The minister said the YPG/PKK has begun targeting Turkish territories just like it did before Ankara launched large-scale military operations in the region.
According to the minister, the average rocket-firing range of YPG/PKK toward Turkish territory is around 30 kilometers (18.6 miles).
Ankara, following military operations in Syria, reached agreements with Moscow and Washington who assured to push terror elements 30km back into the south, away from the Turkish borderline, he added.
"Now that they did not keep their word, the terrorists still have a presence there and have intensified attacks [on Turkey], what we need is to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps," the minister said, referring to Turkey's readiness to take initiative, if need be, as seen in previous military campaigns in the region.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and to enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).
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.
