page_title: Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
section_title: Against the Syrian Democratic Forces
hierarchical_section_title: Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War / Turkey's military intervention in Syria / Statements about further intentions of Turkish military action / Against the Syrian Democratic Forces
caption_attribution_description: Protest in London against Turkish military and war against Kurdish people in Syria
context_page_description: Turkey has been diplomatically and militarily involved in the Syrian Civil War since its outbreak in 2011. Initially condemning the Syrian government at the outbreak of civil unrest in Syria during the spring of 2011, the Turkish government's involvement gradually evolved into military assistance for the Free Syrian Army in July 2011, border clashes in 2012, and direct military interventions in 2016–17, in 2018, in 2019, and in 2020. The military operations have resulted in the Turkish occupation of northern Syria since August 2016.
  After a decade of relatively friendly relations with Syria during the prior decade, Turkey condemned Syrian president Bashar al-Assad over the violent crackdown on protests in 2011 and later that year joined a number of other countries demanding his resignation. From the beginning of the war, Turkey trained defectors of the Syrian Army in its territory under the supervision of the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation, among whom emerged the Free Syrian Army in July 2011. In May 2012, the Turkish National Intelligence Organisation began arming and training the FSA and provided them with a base of operations.
context_section_description: The Turkish government promotes a narrative according to which the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the leading political party of the Democratic Federal System of Northern Syria, and the People's Protection Units (YPG) militia, the leading component group of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), were reportedly "seizing and ethnically cleansing territories which don't belong to Kurds." Turkish President Erdoğan on 19 September 2016 once more promoted this narrative on a press conference, stating that "these events are what also made it a necessity for us to start this intervention."
  The United States Department of Defense on 20 September 2016 confirmed that U.S. Special Operation Forces were flying U.S. flags in the town of Tell Abyad in Kobanî Canton to deter Turkish harassment shelling or attacks. On 21 September, The New York Times reported that the U.S. administration "is weighing a military plan to directly arm Syrian Kurdish fighters combating the Islamic State, a major policy shift that could speed up the offensive against the terrorist group but also sharply escalate tensions between Turkey and the United States." Reacting to these reports, Turkey President Erdoğan on 23 September stated that "arming another terrorist group for fighting another terrorist group is not acceptable." Following these statements, Turkish army shelled two YPG targets in the Tell Abyad area. On 25 September 2016, the U.S. spokesman for the Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF–OIR) confirmed that the SDF, including the YPG, were also part of the "vetted forces" in the train and equip program and will be supplied with weapons. The President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, condemned this and said that the SDF were "endangering our future".
  Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş on 26 September said that a significant portion of YPG units within the SDF in Manbij would have started moving to the east of Euphrates river and appreciated it. On 27 September, Turkey sent military units to the border region of Tell Abyad. Same day Turkish FM Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that YPG units had not withdrawn from Manbij and its countryside and stated "this means USA either is not capable of influencing YPG or they do not want to influence them." The Turkish government on 3 October 2016 once again stated that fighters of YPG were still present to the west of Euphrates and called on the U.S. to hold its promise that they withdraw to the east of the river. The following day, Yıldırım said that Turkey could use force to expel YPG from Manbij. As a consequence of continuing Turkish verbal aggressions, the SDF spokesman on 4 October explicitly ruled out any Turkish participation in the upcoming joint military operation of the SDF and the CJTF–OIR to capture Raqqa from ISIL. Later an Obama administration official said that at this point the administration's plan to "retake Raqqa by arming the Kurds" was triggered as a plan B, after the initial plan of using Turkish forces in the Raqqa offensive became unattainable.
  President Erdoğan stated on 18 October 2016 that the YPG would be removed from Manbij after ISIL is driven from al-Bab. In a 21 October report from Jarabulus, the Financial Times assessed Turkish aims towards the SDF and as a conclusion quoted that "Mr Erdoğan is very good at perceptions. It is not important what reality is: people [in Turkey] love hearing Mr Erdoğan's ambitions on the eight o'clock news when they come home." On 25 October, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu stated that Turkey would dislodge "PYD/PKK" from Manbij if it did not leave the city. On 26 October 2016, president Erdoğan said: "We are determined to clear the PYD from Manbij." On 27 October 2016, Erdoğan said he told U.S. President Barack Obama that Free Syrian Army labeled rebels would advance on ISIL-held Al-Bab and then march on to SDF-held Manbij and then toward ISIL-capital Raqqa. On 11 November, Erdoğan stated the goal and roadmap of the intervention as "expanding the controlled area to cover 5,000 square kilometres (1,900 sq mi) including Bab, Ma
caption: Protest in London against Turkish military operation in Afrin, 31 March 2018
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