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Turkey vows not to halt shelling of Kurd rebels

 Turkey's president responded angrily to calls for his country to halt its cross-border shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria, saying Ankara "has no such plans."
Addressing local officials on Wednesday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said Turkey would not allow the Syrian Kurdish forces to establish a stronghold at the Syrian-Turkish border. Turkey regards the Syrian Kurdish forces as a terror group because of their links to its own outlawed Kurdish rebels who are internationally recognised as a terrorist organisation.
Turkey has been shelling Kurdish Syrian forces since Saturday, saying it has been responding to provocations. The United States and others have called on Turkey to hold its fire. Erdogan insisted Wednesday that Turkey's shelling was "self-defence."
Turkey also said it was seeking to create a "safe line" inside Syria that would include the flashpoint northern town of Azaz near the Turkish border.
"We want to form a 10 kilometre safe line inside Syria, including Azaz," Deputy Prime Minister Yalcin Akdogan told A Haber television in an interview.
Turkey has long pressed for a safe zone, backed up by a no-fly zone, to protect its borders and provide protection for refugees on Syrian soil.
Akdogan did not elaborate on the dimensions of the proposed zone or how it could be created.
 
 

• MENA