Turkey: 'Kurdish autonomous regions in Syria unacceptable' - PM Yildirim

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim slammed the Syrian Kurds' move to claim an autonomous region in Syria, while speaking at a press conference in Ankara, Monday.
"This something Turkey cannot accept, in fact the Syrians could not accept it either," Yildirim stated.
Commenting on Syria's territorial integrity, the prime minister noted that Turkey cares "a lot about the territorial integrity of Syria," adding that attempts of dividing the country into small ethnic regions and the fact that such mindset exists means the Syrian conflict will go on "for decades," Yildirim concluded.
His statement came after the Syrian Kurds' People's Protection Units (YPG) made significant gains against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIL/ISIS) along swaths of territory at Syria's northeastern border with Turkey, followed by the organisation's political wing claiming the area an autonomous region dubbed 'Rojava.' The statement was made hours before the Turkish military launched artillery strikes on YPG and IS positions north of the former militant stronghold Manbij.