Turkish forces will enter the Syrian town Manbij if the United States does not remove the YPG Kurdish militia from the area, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday, after Ankara said this week it would launch a new operation to target the fighters.
Erdogan, in a speech in Istanbul, said Turkey was determined to bring peace to the area east of the Euphrates river in Syria.
Ankara and Washington have long been at odds over Syria, where the United States has backed the YPG in the fight against Islamic State. Turkey says the YPG is a terrorist organization and an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).