Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan said he planned to discuss a possible Turkish military operation in Syria when he visits Moscow for talks with President Vladimir Putin on Monday, Russia's RIA news agency reported.
Erdoğan has vowed to crush U.S.-backed Kurdish fighters east of the Euphrates in Syria and said last year that preparations were complete for an operation.
Turkey, Washington's main Muslim ally within NATO, considers Syria's YPG Kurdish militia an enemy and has already intervened to sweep the fighters from territory west of the Euphrates in military campaigns over the past two years.
"Our preparations on the border are finished, everything is ready for an operation. We can begin it at any moment. I will discuss this issue among others face-to-face [with Putin] on my visit to Russia," Erdoğan was cited as saying.
In a separate development Monday, Erdoğan responded to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's promise that he would annex West Bank settlements if re-elected by declaring that the West Bank belonged to the Palestinians.
Erdoğan said that annexation of settlements would be another occupation measure by Israel, and emphasized that Turkey would stand with Palestine if that came to pass.
