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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Washington of establishing an army of terror along the Turkish border, as his country drew closer to open confrontation with U.S.-backed Kurdish troops in neighboring Syria.

Erdogan, who regards the Kurdish fighters as affiliates of Turkish Kurds battling for autonomy in Turkeys southeast, said Monday that a Turkish offensive in the Kurdish-controlled town of Afrin in northern Syria was imminent. The spark for the campaign is a new U.S.-backed plan to turn thousands of Syrian Kurds who fought Islamic State into border guards in areas they control along Turkeys frontier.

Turkey is afraid the Syrian Kurdish fighters incorporation into the force will give them cover to stage attacks on Turkey. It also says it will further their aim to consolidate a single autonomous region including Afrin along the Turkish frontier, and embolden PKK separatists the Turkish military has been fighting for more than three decades. Turkish military reinforcements were moved into the Afrin area over the weekend, state-run Anadolu news agency reported.

Turkey will suffocate this terror army before its born, Erdogan said. Our preparations have been completed. The operation is due to start any moment. After that, other regions will follow.

The impending face-off with the U.S. proxy exacerbates the already considerable strains that have tested Turkeys relations with Washington in recent years. Ankara has also been angered by the trial and conviction of a Turkish banker in the U.S. on sanctions violation charges, and Washingtons non-action on its request to extradite a Pennsylvania-based Turkish preacher Erdogan accuses of instigating a failed 2016 coup.

Turkish army units fired dozens of shells toward Kurdish positions in and around Afrin on Sunday. The army also beefed up troops in the area with armored personnel carriers and tanks over the weekend, according to Anadolu.

Turkey has acted against the Syrian Kurdish forces before. It began operating in northern Syria in 2016, its participation in an international effort to defeat Islamic State dovetailing with its campaign to block the convergence of Kurdish-run regions. An earlier deployment in Idlib, to the south of Afrin, denied the Kurds access to the Mediterranean Sea -- a prized target for a planned Kurdish corridor running all the way to northern Iraq.

The U.S. backed the Kurdish fighters because it regarded them as the most effective force against Islamic State. With the war against the extremist group largely won, Turkey sees no reason for incorporating Kurdish troops into the border guard unit.

Turkeys National Security Council, which advises on military actions, is scheduled to meet on Jan. 17. Turkish officials vowed similar action on several occasions last year.

The U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State said in an emailed statement Monday that the border security force will prohibit Islamic State freedom of movement and deny the transportation of illicit materials so the Syrian people can establish effective local, representative governance and reclaim their land. Ethnic composition of the force, it said, will be relative to the areas in which they serve.

With assistance by Asli Kandemir

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Erdogan Accuses U.S. of Creating `Army of Terror' on Turk ...

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - President Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that Turkeys military incursion in northern Syrias Idlib province would crush Kurdish militia forces that control the neighboring region of Afrin.

The Kurdish YPG militia said Turkish forces inside Syria fired shells into Afrin on Saturday, but no one was wounded.

Turkish troops entered Idlib three months ago after an agreement with Russia and Iran for the three countries to try to reduce fighting between pro-Syrian government forces and rebel fighters in the largest remaining insurgent-held part of Syria.

But the few observation posts which the Turkish army says it has established are close to the dividing line between Arab rebel-held land and the Kurdish-controlled region of Afrin.

If the terrorists in Afrin dont surrender we will tear them down, Erdogan told a congress of his ruling AK Party in the eastern Turkish city of Elazig.

The Kurdish YPG militia said Turkish forces stationed in Syria shelled several Kurdish villages in the Afrin region on Saturday, without causing casualties.

Rojhat Roj, the YPG spokesman in Afrin, told Reuters the shelling was carried out by Turkish forces in Dar Taizaah and Qalat Seman - areas where he said Turkish forces had deployed as part of the agreement with Russia and Iran.

From our side, there is no shelling at present, he added.

Erdogan has said the Kurdish YPG militia is trying to establish a terror corridor on Turkeys southern border, linking Afrin with a large Kurdish-controlled area to the east.

In 2016 Turkey launched its Euphrates Shield military offensive in northern Syria to push back Islamic State from the border and drive a wedge between the Kurdish controlled regions.

With the Euphrates Shield operation we cut the terror corridor right in the middle. We hit them one night suddenly. With the dlib operation, we are collapsing the western wing, Erdogan said, referring to Afrin.

He also said Turkey could drive YPG forces out of Manbij. The mainly Arab town lies west of the Euphrates, and Turkey has long demanded that Kurdish fighters pull back east of the river.

In Manbij, if they break the promises, we will take the matter in our own hands until there are no terrorists left. They will see what well do in about a week, Erdogan said.

Turkey was a major supporter of rebels fighting to overthrow Syrias President Bashar al-Assad, but is alarmed by the strength of Kurdish forces - which Ankara says are linked to Kurdish militants fighting in southeast Turkey.

It has criticized the United States for arming YPG and Arab fighters in the Syrian Democratic Forces, which drove Islamic State out of Raqqa and other parts of Syria.

The U.S. sent 4,900 trucks of weapons in Syria. We know this. This is not what allies do, Erdogan said. We know they sent 2,000 planes full of weapons.

Reporting by Irem Koca in Istanbul and Tom Perry in Beirut; Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Alexander Smith

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Erdogan says Turkey will crush Kurdish militia in Afrin | Reuters

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Tayyip Erdogan denounced U.S. justice on Friday and suggested Turkey could rethink some bilateral agreements with Washington, after a U.S. court convicted a Turkish banker in a trial that included testimony of corruption by top Turkish officials.

In his first public comments on Wednesdays verdict, the Turkish president cast the case as American plot to undermine Turkeys government and economy - an argument likely to resonate with nationalist supporters.

If this is the U.S. understanding of justice, then the world is doomed, Erdogan told a news conference before his departure to France for an official visit.

A U.S. jury convicted an executive of Turkeys majority state-owned Halkbank (HALKB.IS) of evading Iran sanctions, at the close of the trial which has strained relations between the NATO allies. Some of the court testimony implicated senior Turkish officials, including Erdogan. Ankara has said the case was based on fabricated evidence.

Without being specific, Erdogan said the case put agreements between the two countries into jeopardy: ....The bilateral accords between us are losing their validity. I am saddened to say this, but this is how it will be from now on.

Turkeys foreign ministry on Thursday condemned the conviction as unprecedented meddling in its internal affairs. The row has unnerved investors and weighed on the lira currency, which hit a series of record lows last year.

The court case has put pressure on relations between Washington and the biggest Muslim country in NATO, already strained since a 2016 failed coup in Turkey which Erdogan blames on followers of a cleric who lives in the United States.

Only last week the United States and Turkey lifted all visa restrictions against each other, ending a months-long visa dispute that began when Washington suspended visa services at its Turkish missions after two local employees of the U.S. consulate were detained on suspicion of links to the coup.

The Halkbank executive, Mehmet Hakan Atilla, was convicted on five of six counts, including bank fraud and conspiracy to violate U.S. sanctions law. The case was based on the testimony of a wealthy Turkish-Iranian gold trader, Reza Zarrab, who cooperated with prosecutors and pleaded guilty to charges of leading a scheme to evade U.S. sanctions against Iran.

In his testimony Zarrab implicated top Turkish politicians, including Erdogan. Zarrab said Erdogan, then prime minister, had personally authorised two Turkish banks to join the scheme.

Turkey says the case was based on fabricated evidence and has accused U.S. court officials of ties to the cleric Turkey blames for the coup attempt. The bank has denied any wrongdoing and said its transactions were in line with local and international regulations.

The United States is carrying out ... a chain of plots, and these are not just legal but also economic plots, Erdogan said.

Reporting by Daren Butler and Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by David Dolan and Peter Graff

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'World is doomed': Erdogan denounces U.S. justice after ...

Under the state of emergency imposed by Mr. Erdogan since the attempted coup, public gatherings are prohibited and freedom of expression and the media are tightly constrained. Most of those joining Ms. Akseners movement are young people chafing under the restrictions, she said.

Ms. Aksener and Mr. Erdogan both represent the center right of the political spectrum, but she opposes him on almost every aspect of his politics, from his increasingly autocratic form of government to his anti-Western diatribes that have damaged relations and scared off foreign investment.

Mr. Erdogan remains Turkeys most popular politician by far, but last years referendum showed that the country is deeply divided. Ms. Aksener says she is uniquely placed to draw support from right-wing nationalists and more liberal centrists who are disenchanted with Mr. Erdogan.

We saw in the referendum the country is split in half, she said. The Good Party is the only party that can get votes from both camps.

Still, her path ahead will be anything but easy. Although Mr. Erdogans Justice and Development Party has slipped slightly in the polls, there is little sign that Ms. Aksener is the cause, said Kemal Can, a prominent political writer.

Most of the polls show that she cannot draw the vote away from A.K.P., he said, using the partys Turkish initials. She may sway 1 or 2 percent from A.K.P., but these are already estranged voters who most probably already voted No in the referendum.

Since she occupies some of the same political space as the president, Ms. Aksener is in many ways campaigning as the anti-Erdogan.

She says she wants to re-establish freedom of expression, reverse draconian measures that have imprisoned journalists and closed down newspapers and media outlets, and restore a nonpartisan justice system and constitutional court.

She also says she wants to reverse Mr. Erdogans April referendum, which will introduce an executive-style presidency after the next elections, regardless of who wins.

We are going to return to a parliamentary system, she said. The second thing is to restore trust in the economy.

The daughter of a civil servant, Ms. Aksener grew up in a small rural village in western Turkey. Her family was among the hundreds of thousands resettled from Greece in the population exchanges between Greece and Turkey in 1923.

Despite limited education, I managed to go to university and became a lecturer, she said. She gained her doctorate in history in Istanbul and taught at several universities.

Yet Ms. Aksener said the possibility of moving up a class through education had become elusive in Turkey, where employment has become partisan, depending on whether a person is connected to the governing party. The opportunity I got 45 years ago, you cannot receive today, she said.

Education and the economy are the two things people are most concerned about on the campaign trail, she said.

Thousands of families were affected when Mr. Erdogan scrapped the national high-school entrance exam in September, ordering students instead to attend their closest neighborhood school, many of which have been transformed into religious academies.

Pupils were preparing for the exam for four years, Ms. Aksener said, and you change it overnight?

Mobility between the social classes will be diminished, she added. Children will not be able to dream about their future, and this is the saddest thing.

Although Mr. Erdogan has overseen a period of impressive economic growth, allowing many in Turkey to climb out of poverty and join the middle classes, Ms. Aksener noted that the growth has been built on a construction boom rather than industrialization.

Pointing to high youth unemployment, she said research conducted by her party had found that 18- to 25-year-olds from middle-income families felt trapped in a triangle of unhappiness, despair and fatalism. The Good Party will give hope to these people, she said.

She entered politics in 1994, joining the True Path Party of Suleyman Demirel and serving as interior minister for nine months until a military coup replaced the government in 1997. She joined the Nationalist Movement Party in 2007 and became deputy speaker of Parliament for eight years.

Although the Nationalist Movement Party has a history of extreme right-wing elements, Ms. Aksener has avoided nationalist rhetoric and describes herself as center-right. Her party manifesto is carefully worded, supporting a strong defense against terrorism, immigration and outside cultural influences.

Senior members of her new party have been more outspoken, though. Umit Ozdag, the vice chairman of the Good Party, caused an outcry in November with derogatory comments about Syrian refugees.

Ms. Aksener remains focused on attacking Mr. Erdogans policies.

She broke with the Nationalist Movement Party leader, Devlet Bahceli, over his support for Mr. Erdogans new presidential system, which she criticizes for lacking checks and balances.

She is also campaigning for womens rights, hoping to win over female voters. In the cities, women are harassed based on their gender, she said. In the villages they are beaten up or even killed.

She describes her 24 years in politics as a very rough political life. During the 2015 parliamentary election campaign, supporters of Mr. Erdogan alleged on television that a video showed her cheating on her husband, a mechanical engineer.

In the furor that followed, both Mr. Erdogan and his wife called her in sympathy, as did Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and his wife although Ms. Aksener said that amid that sympathy they also encouraged her to drop out.

I noticed there was an expectation that I should end this fight, she said. I went in the opposite direction. I continued the fight and I sued those people.

Her accusers backed off somewhat, but were later acquitted.

The battle taught her a lesson, she says. I saw them up close, she said. I am not afraid of Erdogan, not as much as a grain of dust.

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A Rival Steps Up to Challenge Turkeys President Erdogan ...

Ankara is set to embrace a bold and risky foreign policy next year, Turkish President Recep Erdogan has promised in his New Year's message. He said Turkey will play an active role in the Middle East and on the Jerusalem issue.

Turkey will not be able to secure its future without resolving problems in its region, Erdogan said in his message published on December 31. This leads us to pursue a more active, bold, and if necessary, more risky foreign policy, he added, as cited by Hurriyet newspaper.

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The Turkish president said Ankara cannot hold negotiations with other actors on the international arena and play a particularly active role in the Middle East without being [active] in the field. He then listed Turkeys recent actions that allowed it to take on a more prominent role among regional powers.

To this end, we have taken significant steps over the last year by launching an operation into Idlib [in Syria] and by nixing the regional governments independence bid in Iraq, he said. In autumn, Turkey launched a campaign in the northwest Syrian province of Idlib aimed at enforcing the de-escalation zone in the area.

The proposal to establish four de-escalation zones in Syria, championed by Russia, was finalized in September at the latest round of Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan's capital, Astana, with Idlib becoming the fourth safe zone to be established under the deal. In late October, Erdogan said Turkish operations in Idlib were largely completed.

In a separate development, Turkey exerted pressure on the Kurdish regional authorities in Iraq following an independence referendum held by the Kurds in September. Erdogan threatened the Kurds with sanctions, warning, that they would not be able to find food if Ankara decided to halt the flow of trucks and oil into the region over the independence vote.

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Erdogan also touched on the Jerusalem issue, which, he said, turned out to be a test for us and our region, as well as for all Muslims and oppressed nations. Turkey has been one of the most vocal critics of US President Donald Trumps decision to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital. Apart from Israel, no state has supported the step taken by the United States. To the contrary, it led to a favourable development of the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, the Turkish president said in his New Year's message.

On December 13, Turkey hosted an emergency summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) in Istanbul which strongly condemned Washingtons recognition of the Holy City as the Israeli capital. Earlier, Erdogan slammed Arab countries for what he called a weak response to the US move, chastising them of being afraid of Washington.

Erdogan also called Trumps decision a major catastrophe, while warning that Muslims may lose Mecca and other holy sites if the US decision isnt reversed. Ankara also took the issue to the UN General Assembly (UNGA) after a UN Security Council resolution on rescinding Trumps Jerusalem decision was vetoed by the US.

In the UNGA vote, 128 countries denounced the US decision in a move that was hailed by Erdogan on Twitter.

Erdogan said Turkey will face very important developments both inside and outside the country throughout 2018, and that he would work day and night to be prepared for any challenges.

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