Turkey seeks no clash with Russia, Syria, US, but will pursue Syria goals

ANKARA – Turkey seeks to avoid any clash with Syrian, Russian or US forces during its operation in northern Syria but will take whatever steps it needs for its security, Turkey's foreign minister was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

The United States and Russia have both urged Turkey to show restraint in its military campaign, Operation Olive Branch, to crush Kurdish YPG control over the Afrin district on its southern border. Syria has condemned the incursion.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who says the YPG is an extension of a Kurdish group waging a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey's borders, has also pledged to drive Kurdish fighters out of the mainly Arab town of Manbij.