Turkey refuses to liberate Raqqa alongside PYD

Turkey will not join a campaign to liberate Raqqa from ISIL if it involves the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD), Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmuş said.

"Turkey will also support such an operation. However, if you are saying 'We will bring in the PYD while taking Daesh away', Turkey will never allow it. We will not be involved in such an operation," Kurtulmuş told Anadolu Agency's Editors' Desk.

He highlighted the liberation of al-Bab and Jarabulus as models for seizing Raqqa.

"We suggest implementing that model all across Syria. That is our expectation from the international community," the Daily Sabah cited him a saying.