No one can prevent Turkey from launching a new anti-terrorist operation in northern Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Jan. 8.
“Turkey will not allow any terrorist organization to intensify its activity in northern Syria,” Erdogan added, Trend reports referring to the Turkish media.
The president stressed that the statements made by some senior US officials that the operation in northern Syria is directed against ethnic Kurds are false.
“By hosting Syrian refugees, Turkey has never made any differences in their ethnicity,” he said. “Turkey hosted refugees from Syria – the Kurds, Muslim Arabs and including Christians.”
“Terrorism has no national identity,” Erdogan stressed. “There may be terrorists among Turks, Arabs and Kurds.”
The president stressed that national interests are important for Turkey.
On Dec. 12, Erdogan said the Turkish Armed Forces would launch a new military operation in northern Syria against PYD/YPG.
Erdogan claimed there were American soldiers in the detachments of the terrorists in Syria.
“Despite that the US promised Turkey that it would not support PYD/YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, the US did not keep its word,” Erdogan said.
On June 4, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo discussed a road map on Syria’s Manbij during talks in Washington.
Also, Pompeo and Cavusoglu met in Brussels and discussed the Operation Olive Branch, as well as other issues.
On Jan. 20, the Turkish Armed Forces, together with the Free Syrian Army, launched the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, Syria.
On Aug. 24, 2016, units of the Turkish Armed Forces began the Operation Euphrates Shield against the “Islamic State” and with the support of the Syrian opposition liberated the border town of Jarablus in northern Syria, as well as al-Bab.
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