Turkey will launch a military attack on Syria should it pose a threat to national security, prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu said, quoted by the country's Today's Zaman newspaper on Friday.
“If anything occurred that were to threaten Turkish security, we wouldn’t wait for tomorrow, we would go right in,” quoted Davutoglu as saying on Friday.
“It’s correct that we have taken precautions to protect our border," he said.
Turkey has deployed additional forces and equipment along its border with Syria, the daily said, corroborating several Turkish media reports on Sunday that Ankara was gearing up for a cross-border operation.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Syrian Kurds of trying to establish a state in Syria’s north, saying Ankara will do its utmost prevent the creation of such a state near its borders.
Kurdish forces in areas near the border with Turkey have made significant gains against the Islamic State militant group, which controls parts of Syria.
