Anti-terror fight to continue until security corridor is set in N Syria: Erdoğan

AHLAT

Türkiye will continue to fight against the terrorists until it establishes a 30-kilometer depth security corridor in northern Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said, signaling a new cross-border military operation in accordance with the plans and strategies of the government.

“From here, I want to announce to the whole world that our struggle [against terrorists] will not end until we secure our borders from one end to the other [of the Syria border] through a 30 kilometer-depth security corridor,” Erdoğan said at a ceremony held in the Ahlat province in eastern Anatolia on the occasion of the 951st anniversary of the Malazgirt Victory on Aug. 25.

Erdoğan has long been voicing that Türkiye will hold a new military operation against the presence of the YPG in Tal Rifat and Menbij provinces in the northern Syria. The Turkish army’s latest cross-border operation, the Peace Spring Operation, took place in October 2019 and resulted in the creation of a secure corridor on the 100-kilometer strip of the Turkish-Syria border between Azaz and Jarablus.

There are still areas under the control of the YPG in the east of Euphrates that pose a threat to Türkiye and its borders. Dozens of troops and civilians were killed as a result of the YPG attacks.

The United States, Russia, Iran and prominent European nations are opposed to a new Turkish operation with concerns that it can further destabilize Syria and weaken the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Slamming those countries who are voicing their opposition against a Turkish operation, Erdoğan said Ankara was well-aware of the hypocrisy of these nations “which conduct military operations whenever and wherever they wish.”

“We don’t take into account these insincere statements.”

“We will continue our operations in accordance with our security priorities and own planning. As we have said many times: We can go [for an operation] suddenly, one night,” he stated.

Türkiye’s difference from the others is the fact it has no eye on the territories of Syria and does not want to break the unity of this country, Erdoğan said, stressing the country’s sole objective is to eliminate terrorists. “It is only for our security and comfort. Those countries with a colonial past have no right to say anything on Türkiye’s fight against terror,” he added.