ANKARA
Turkey’s foreign minister spoke on Tuesday about the threat to the country’s southern border, warning: "If we take no precautions… we might put Turkey's stability at risk."
In an interview with A Haber news channel, Mevlut Cavusoglu addressed recent concerns about fighting in Syria and a renewed influx of refugees that has led to speculation Turkey could take military action to establish a safe corridor across the border.
"We will neither put Turkey into an adventure nor have an eye on another country's soil without any reason," Cavusoglu said.
Questioned on military preparations to enter Syria, he added: "If we take no precautions against any threat to ourselves, we might put Turkey's stability at risk."
His remarks came a day after Turkey’s National Security Council expressed concern over “actions aiming to change the demographic structure and terrorist acts targeting the civilian population living in Syria”.
Last week, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would “never allow the establishment of a new state on our southern frontier”.
He also accused Kurdish forces of expelling other communities from close to the Turkish border.
YPG, or the Syrian-Kurdish People’s Defense Units, is the armed wing of the pro-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Union Party, or PYD, which Turkey has designated as a terror organization.
Cavusoglu said: "As a country living inside a fire circle, it is our natural duty to envisage risks… analyze and evaluate them in advance and take measures.”
Turkey has already carried out a limited military operation in Syria this year. In February, tanks crossed the border as troops relocated the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.
