Deputy minister discusses Turkey’s planned military operation into Syria with US official

ANKARA 

Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal held a telephone conversation on June 2 with Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield discussing the developments in Syria including Turkey’s planned military operation into the neighboring country.

Thomas-Greenfield thanked Turkey’s efforts to find a lasting and sustainable solution to the Syrian conflict through a political process to be advanced on UNSC Resolution 2254, under the auspices of the UN and ownership of Syrian people, said a statement by the Foreign Ministry.

“In response to Permanent Representative Thomas-Greenfield’s expression of concerns about Turkey’s military operation in the north of Syria, Deputy Minister Ambassador Önal emphasized that the PKK/YPG/PYD terrorist organization is an existential threat not only to Syria’s territorial integrity but also to Turkey’s national security,” said the ministry.

The provisions of the separate agreements reached with the U.S. and the Russian Federation in October 2019 have not been fulfilled, that the terrorist threats against Turkey from the north of Syria have further increased recently, Önal told Thomas-Greenfield.

Turkey cannot be expected to remain indifferent to these attacks, targeting its security forces, civilians as well as areas inside its borders, and advancement of the separatist agenda, and that therefore Ankara will continue to take the necessary measures against the terrorist organizations threatening Turkey’s vital national security interests, he also expressed.

Russia hopes Turkey will “refrain” from launching an offensive in northern Syria, a diplomatic spokesperson said on June 2. “We hope that Ankara will refrain from actions that could lead to a dangerous deterioration of the already difficult situation in Syria,” Russia’s Foreign Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement.

“Such a move, in the absence of the agreement of the legitimate government of the Syrian Arab Republic, would be a direct violation of Syria’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and would “cause a further escalation of tensions in Syria,” she added.