Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that Turkish forces will soon begin besieging the Syrian town of Afrin as part of his country’s offensive to expel the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) from its border with Syria.
"The siege of the Afrin city center will start rapidly in the coming days. This way, both outside help to the region and city will be cut off, and the terrorist organization will not have the means to negotiate with anyone," he said in a speech to members of his ruling AK Party at parliament.
Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey has no intention of backing down from its operation in Syria's Afrin region, launched to sweep the YPG from its southern border.
He said Turkey is not there "to burn and destroy" the enclave, but to ensure it becomes a "safe and livable place."
Turkish troops have so far seized border regions encircling Afrin, including strategic hills.
Commenting on recent reports that the Syrian regime was ready to dispatch troops to Afrin to support the Kurds, Erdogan said that Ankara thwarted the deployment after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The (Syrian deployment) was seriously stopped yesterday… It was stopped," Erdogan told reporters following his parliament speech.
When asked if the deployment was stopped after talks with Putin, Erdogan said: "Yes, it was stopped after those talks".
A senior Kurdish official said at the weekend a deal had been struck for the Syrian regime forces to enter Afrin and fight back against the Turks.
On Monday morning, Syrian state media had said the pro-regime militia would enter Afrin "within hours" - although the forces never materialized.
Also on Monday Erdogan spoke to both Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about Syria, Ankara's government spokesman said.
The three countries also agreed that their foreign ministers would meet in Moscow on March 14.
