Gülnur Aybet on the Situation in Northern Syria

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: First of all, as you know better than I do, the United States does not consider the YPG terrorists, they do consider the PKK but they have partnered with them in the fight against ISIS. So there is a distinction that they make between those two different Kurdish forces. Are you prepared — no, hold on a second. Ms. Aybet, I need to ask you questions here. Are you prepared — can you tell us, please, what your intentions are, then? How far are you going to move into Northern Syria? How long? How deep? What are you going to do?

GÜLNUR AYBET, SENIOR ADVISER TO THE PRESIDENT OF TURKEY: Well, we have discussed this very openly and President Erdogan has actually even shown a map with regards to the proposed establishment of the safe zone which is exactly why we’re undertaking this operation. It is something that he discussed with President Trump and both presidents agreed. It’s going to be about 20 miles in-depth and just over 400 kilometers long. So there’s really no secret about the depth and the actual size of the operation.

AMANPOUR: OK. So, do you have the capacity, most people don’t believe you have the willingness or the capacity to actually — hold on a second, you’re nodding your head. I haven’t even finished my question — to take on the 11,000 ISIS fighters who remain in that area, and to police the 70,000 people in the al-Hawl Refugee Camp including women, children, ISIS brides, if you like, and what is being called a nucleus of an ISIS resurgent force. Is Turkey prepared to take on that?

AYBET: Look, I think, first of all, we have to be clear about one thing. We’re not sure exactly about the numbers of ISIS families and fighters that are being kept there apart from information that is predominantly put out by the terrorist organization.

AMANPOUR: No, no. This is the United States. Ms. Aybet, these are international figures. Sorry. I just want to know, let’s not get quibbling about the figures. The YPG which has been fighting and dying against — in the fight against ISIS now says it’s not going to do it because it has to defend itself. Then we know from the inspector general and others that there are thousands of ISIS fighters still in the Northern Syria area. And we know because we visited it. CNN and other reporters have visited that the al-Hawl Refugee Camp contains some 70,000 people, and it’s being described, in part, as a possible nucleus of resurgence of ISIS. I want to know what Turkey is going to do about those fighters and those people in that camp.

AYBET: First of all, let me start with our capacity with the second- largest army in NATO. And we’ve already undertaken two successful military operations to safeguard our borders from terrorism.