Turkey asks Germany to hand over SDF commander-in-chief

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has called on German officials to arrest and extradite the commander-in-chief of the Kurdish-led so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), weeks after Turkish army troops and their allied militants launched a cross-border incursion into northern Syria against the People's Protection Units (YPG), which forms the SDF’s backbone.

“We quickly asked for the arrest and extradition of the so-called commander of the YPG, Ferhat Abdi Sahin (better known by his nom de guerre Mazloum Kobani Abdi), from relevant states to our country, after media reports that he will travel to the United States and Germany,” Cavusoglu said at a budget meeting in parliament in the capital Ankara on Monday.

Back on October 28, Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu said Sahin can be equated with the slain ringleader of the Daesh terrorist group, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

US continues to support SDF with delivery of new truckloads of weapons

The United States has dispatched a convoy of dozens of trucks loaded with weapons and military equipment from northern Iraq to Syria to support SDF militants.

“Talking on the phone, being in contact with him, do not take his guise of terrorism,” Soylu in his speech said at an opening ceremony at the police headquarters in Ankara.

“He is a murderer and states governed by rule of law should not communicate with him,” he added.

On October 24, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan demanded that the United States hand over the commander of YPG forces in Syria, in a sharp rebuke of Washington's call for negotiations with the Syrian Kurds. 

Speaking to state-run TRT television network, Erdogan said he had instructed Turkish Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul to take the “necessary steps” for Abdi's extradition. 

Syria urges Kurdish-led SDF to join national army in face of Turkish aggression

Syria calls on the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to join the ranks of the national armed forces to battle invading Turkish troops.

“With the US, we have an extradition agreement. The US should hand this man to us,” he said. 

The call for Abdi's extradition came after US President Donald Trump, in a letter to Erdogan on October 9, said the Kurdish commander was “willing to negotiate” with the Turkish president and “make concessions that they would have never made in the past.”

Turkish, Russian forces complete 8th patrol in northern Syria

Meanwhile, Turkish and Russian troops have completed the eighth round of joint ground patrols in northern Syria under a deal reached last month.

“In Ayn al-Arab region, where the land patrol was conducted, unmanned aerial vehicles also took part and were accompanied by four vehicles from each side …,” Turkey’s Defense Ministry said in a statement on Monday.

The statement also said that the patrol took place 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from Turkey's border and stretched 34 kilometers (21.1 miles).

The first joint ground patrols took place near Syria’s strategic border towns of Ra’s al-Ayn and Qamishli on November 1.

On October 9, Turkish military forces and Ankara-backed militants launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion of northeastern Syria in a declared attempt to push YPG militants from border areas.

PressTV-Turkey starts war against Kurds in northeastern Syria

Turkish military and allied forces have launched a cross-border offensive against Kurdish YPG militants in northeastern Syria.

Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.

On October 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a memorandum of understanding that asserted YPG militants must withdraw from the Turkish-controlled "safe zone" in northeastern Syria within 150 hours, after which Ankara and Moscow will run joint patrols around the area.

PressTV-Russia, Turkey strike deal on north Syria safe zone

Russia and Turkey have agreed to remove Kurdish militants from border areas in northern Syria and launch joint patrols there.

The announcement was made hours before a US-brokered five-day truce between Turkish and Kurdish-led forces was due to expire.

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