TURKEY (VOP TODAY NEWS) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday that the United States had established 20 bases in northern Syria and asked Washington whether it was mobilizing troops in the region against Turkey.

“The United States established 20 bases in the Syrian north and sent many weapons and ammunition to the region through 5,000 trucks and 2,000 trucks,” Erdogan said in a speech organized by the Turkish Ministry of Family and Social Policy at the presidential compound in Ankara on the occasion of International Women’s Day.

“Why are you getting all these weapons in the Syrian north, as long as you say that you have cleared the region from the crowd, are you getting these weapons to use against us?” Erdogan said.

He confirmed that the Turkish forces managed, within the framework of the “olive branch”, which is implemented in the area of ​​Afrin Breef, Aleppo province of Syria, the neutralization of 3 thousand and 89 terrorists.

Relations between the two countries are strained because of a number of thorny issues, including Washington’s support for Kurdish militants in Syria.

Ankara considers both the Kurdish People’s Protection Units and the Democratic Union Party, the main components of the Syrian Democratic Forces coalition, terrorist organizations and allies of Turkey’s banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting it for many years.

Since January 20, Turkish forces have carried out an operation against the Kurdish militants in the Afrin region of northwestern Syria, in cooperation with the so-called Free Syrian Army, which opposes the Syrian government.

The bilateral relations between Turkey and the United States also deteriorated after the US authorities refused to deport the Turkish opposition and preacher, Fethullah Gulen, who has been living in the United States for several years. Ankara is accused of being behind the attempted coup in Turkey in 2016.