President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday urged fellow NATO countries to support Turkey's military operation, which was launched last week against
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday urged fellow NATO countries to support Turkey’s military operation, which was launched last week against the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, the PYD, in northern Syria.
Speaking to reporters before traveling to Azerbaijan, Erdoğan said Turkey would implement its plans for the northern Syrian town of Manbij and settle Arabs there. He also said a U.S. move to withdraw some 1,000 troops from northern Syria was a positive step.
Erdoğan added that does not think any problems will emerge in Syria’s Kobani after a Syrian army deployment is executed along the border, adding that Russia’s Vladimir Putin had shown a “positive approach.”
Turkey says ‘won’t stop’ until it reaches its goal in Syria
Turkey is “determined” to carry on the Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria to clear the YPG/PKK terrorists of its border and ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees, the senior presidential advisor has said.In an interview with Fox News Channel on Sunday, Gulnur Aybet responded to the claims that Turkish forces attacked U.S. soldiers during the country’s ongoing anti-terror operation and the misinformation about the operation.”We are very determined [in carrying on the operation] because we have two objectives. One is to clear our border from this terrorist group — the YPG, which is equivalent to the PKK — which is a terrorist organization as recognized by the U.S. and the EU”.”The second objective is actually to ensure the return of about one to two million Syrian refugees. We are already hosting 4 million of them in our country,” she added.Stating that YPG “grabbed a lot of land northeast of Syria unfortunately after the U.S. policy to arm them”, she said that arming a terrorist group to fight another was a very “ill-conceived” policy.”We’re very disappointed that you’re still working with the YPG outside the zone of our operation. We think that you should stop [this policy],” Aybet said.”They [Daesh] were allowed to grow under the watch of the YPG, who actually allowed thousands of them to escape from Raqqa,” she continued.”We didn’t do Raqqa unfortunately. We asked the Americans to do with us but they didn’t. They chose to do it with a terrorist group. I think the American public has a right to know that, don’t you think so?” the presidential advisor said.U.S. President Donald Trump was “right to want to bring home the U.S. troops because it’s unfair that they’re hostage to this very ill-begotten policy inherited from the previous admin, arming one terrorist group, the YPG, to fight another,” Aybet said.In response to the claims that Turkish forces attacked U.S. soldiers in northern Syria, she said: “We did not fire at American soldiers. That was a lie that was spun by the YPG. We were returning fire to terrorists firing at us from that region.””We were careful not to fire on the American observation posts there,” the advisor added.Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to eliminate terrorists from northern Syria in order to secure Turkey’s borders, aid in the safe return of Syrian refugees, and ensure Syria’s territorial integrity.Ankara wants to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S., and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
PKK’s violent actions increase in Europe: Turkey
Turkey on Sunday called for an increase in security measures against PKK terror group’s violent actions in European countries.“With the start of the Operation Peace Spring, we observe an increase in the violent demonstrations and actions of PKK elements, especially in European countries,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.“In response to the actions of the PKK, we expect from the relevant countries to increase the measures in order to protect the security of life and property of our diplomatic missions, citizens, personnel and Turkish interests abroad and to show maximum sensitivity in this regard,” the statement said.Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist elements and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.Ankara wants to eliminate terrorist group PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD-YPG from the region.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
At least 24 YPG/PKK terrorists surrender to Turkish forces
Some 24 YPG/PKK terrorists have surrendered to Turkish security forces, as the Operation Peace Branch continues east of the Euphrates river in northern Syria.Since the beginning of the operation, 24 terrorists have surrendered to the security forces.Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorists there and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.Ankara wants to clear the region east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG.In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.US prepares to evacuate troops from northern SyriaTurkey’s ruling party criticizes Turkish Cypriot leaderErdoğan says Syrian Kurds ‘biggest’ supporters of military operation