Turkey vows to react if Kurds try to take Syrian town of Azaz

PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey will not allow the Syrian town of Azaz just across from the Turkish border to fall under the control of Syrian Kurdish fighters, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Monday, February 15, AFP reports.

"We will not let Azaz fall," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the private NTV television on his plane en route to an official visit to Ukraine.

"The YPG (the People's Protection Units, a Syrian Kurdish militia) will not be able to cross to the west of the Euphrates (River) and east of Afrin," he added, according to AFP.

Turkish artillery struck at targets of Kurdish militia at the weekend, with Ankara insisting that it was returning fire under the rules of engagement.

Davutoglu said: "The necessary intervention will be made (by Turkey) against the YPG when it is required."

Turkey accuses the Syrian Kurdish forces of being the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged a bloody war against the state since it took up arms in 1984.

Russia is the key ally of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who Turkey wants to see ousted.