Turkey threatens to establish safe zone in Syria without US green light

"If Turkey, US don't find common ground, Ankara will be obliged to create a safe zone on its own," Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper in a telephone call.

Akar told the US official that Ankara expects the US to fully withdraw its support for the People's Protection Units (YPG), whom Ankara accuses of being a front for the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought an on-off campaign against Ankara since the 1980s.

Turkey's defense minister also said that Turkey is the only competent and efficient power that can control the safe zone in northern Syria.

The situation of having hostile Kurdish armed groups, protected by the US and growing in strength close to its borders, has become an existential issue for Ankara and seen the Turkish armed forces intervene in Syria against the YPG and Islamic State group.

Turkey had long signaled a potential military attack in areas held by the YPG east of the Euphrates.

In December, Ankara postponed planned military operations to strike the US-backed Kurdish militants after Washington, the main backer of YPG, said it would withdraw its troops from Syria.

Ankara is currently embroiled in an entrenched diplomatic dispute with Washington over the Russian S-400 defence system.

Earlier this month Turkey announced it was planning to deploy the controversial system in the capital Ankara, which prompted Washington to threaten sanctions.

On July 17, the US kicked Turkey out of NATO's F-35 stealth fighter jet program, in a move that was blasted as "unfair" by Turkey.

Follow us on Twitter: @The_NewArab