Turkey is determined to clear territories east of the Euphrates of terrorists, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, Trend reports citing TASS.
"Our agenda includes territories located east of the Euphrates, a home to nests of terrorist. And we are determined to exterminate them," he stressed. His speech in Konya was broadcast by NTV.
Turkey’s government has been mulling plans of another military operation in neighboring Syria for a year. Ankara wants to set up a security zone there for returning Syrian refugees. It also wants to have a buffer zone along its border. Ankara is currently in talks with Washington on that matter.
The Turkish and US military agreed on August 7 to set up a joint operations center in Syria. The first group of the US military, who will work there, arrived in the Turkish town of Urfa (Sanliurfa), located some 50 km from the Syrian border, on August 12. The center has been established by the two countries in order to fulfill a plan on creating a buffer zone in northern Syria.