Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced once again on Monday the end of preparations for a military operation targeting the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in Manbaj and East Euphrates. “Our preparations on the border are finished, and everything is ready for an operation. We can begin it at any moment. I will discuss this issue among others face-to-face (with Putin) on my visit to Russia,” Erdogan said during a press conference held before heading to Moscow. Erdogan is scheduled to co-chair the meetings of the High-Level Cooperation Council between Russia and Turkey with his counterpart Vladimir Putin. “After the elections, we will solve the Syrian issue on ground and not on the table if possible,” Erdogan has earlier said before the local elections in Turkey on March 31. His remarks came days after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo warned Turkey from “devastating consequences” if it takes unilateral military action northeastern Syria. His warnings were followed by his meeting with his Turkish counterpart Melvut Cavusoglu on the sidelines of NATO meetings in Washington. Turkey has repeatedly announced it has finished preparing for a military operation targeting US-supported Kurdish units Manbij and east of the Euphrates. It also deployed large numbers of troops and reinforced military mechanisms along the border with Syria. However, it suspended the operation after US President Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from Syria and his proposal in December to establish a safe zone east of the Euphrates. Turkey started to complain with time about the unclear withdrawal plans from Syria, of which the US was supposed to coordinate with it. It also complained about the ambiguity of the safe zone’s plans as Washington seeks to expel Turkish forces these areas and to assign European forces instead. Ankara has avoided discussing this issue with Washington, and its officials reiterated that talks in this regard are ongoing. They hinted that the US doesn’t oppose Turkey’s supervision over this zone, and that they are also discussing these matters with Moscow, which has been committed from the beginning to distance itself from this idea.