Turkey says that the only way to stop the war in Syria is to deploy ground troops in the Arab country’s northern regions.
On Tuesday a Turkish official called on the United States and its allies to take part in a joint ground operation in Syria, saying it would be impossible to stop the war without a greater effort against a Moscow-backed Syrian government offensive.
Press TV reports:
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A Turkish official told reporters in Istanbul on Tuesday that the only possible solution to the conflict in Syria is ground operations, but Turkey would not carry out such an operation on its own. “We are asking coalition partners that there should be a ground operation,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
“We want a ground operation. If there is a consensus, Turkey will take part. Without a ground operation, it is impossible to stop this war… Turkey is not going to have a unilateral ground operation … We are discussing this with allies”
Another Turkish official who commented about the ground ops in Syria is Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu who is trying to cajole Ankara’s allies into okaying the deployment of the troops.
“Some countries like us, Saudi Arabia and some other Western European countries have said that a ground operation is necessary … But to expect this only from Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar is neither right nor realistic,” he said. “If such an operation is to take place, it has to be carried out jointly, like the (coalition) airstrikes.”
He went on to say that Ankara has repeatedly called for measures beyond airstrikes, although the subject has not been seriously discussed with the US-led coalition.
“Of course, there would be airstrikes but a cleansing on the ground is also needed. I stated in every meeting … that Daesh could not be destroyed or stopped by air strikes,” he said.
Earlier in the week, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced that his country was awaiting a green light from the US-led coalition to deploy special forces.
“The Kingdom’s readiness to provide special forces to any ground operations in Syria is linked to a decision to have a ground component to this coalition against Daesh in Syria — this US-led coalition — so the timing is not up to us,” he said.
