Perpetrators of strike on Turkish troops in Syria will be understood with registries, says deputy PM
ANKARA
“There are registrations of which airplanes and aircrafts were there in that period of time,” Kurtulmuş told state broadcaster TRT Haber on Dec. 1, referring to the fatal attack on Turkish troops on Nov. 24, which killed four soldiers who were on duty as part of the ongoing Euphrates Shield Operation.
Turkey said it believed the attack was carried out by the Syrian army, though Damascus never claimed responsibility for the strike.
“Turkey will not give up on this job until it is revealed. Who conducted this operation will come to light,” Kurtulmuş said.
His remarks came hours after Lavrov said that “neither Russia nor Syria, with its air force, had anything to do with [the attack],” during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Turkey on Dec. 1.
“We don’t want a repetition of these sort of incidents. It’s essential to discuss this issue with the United States and other institutions,” he added.
Kurtulmuş said “everyone has a plane in the sky,” adding that “it is understood that some elements that are annoyed by this [Euphrates Shield] operation are involved in this job.”
“But Turkey will not give up this operation no matter what,” he said, adding that terror organizations also had drones in the area.
The deputy prime minister repeated the Ankara government’s claim that it has no eye on any region in Syria but is simply seeking to secure its border from terrorists.
“It’s not only the issue of al-Bab and Manbij,” said Kurtulmus, in reference to the two towns Turkey aims to take back from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), respectively.
“The issues of Aleppo and Mosul [in Iraq] are as important as the others. These are the two main cities of the region. In line with how the balances develop in these places, political developments in the region will also follow suit,” he added.
Turkey said it believed the attack was carried out by the Syrian army, though Damascus never claimed responsibility for the strike.
“Turkey will not give up on this job until it is revealed. Who conducted this operation will come to light,” Kurtulmuş said.
His remarks came hours after Lavrov said that “neither Russia nor Syria, with its air force, had anything to do with [the attack],” during a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu in Turkey on Dec. 1.
“We don’t want a repetition of these sort of incidents. It’s essential to discuss this issue with the United States and other institutions,” he added.
Kurtulmuş said “everyone has a plane in the sky,” adding that “it is understood that some elements that are annoyed by this [Euphrates Shield] operation are involved in this job.”
“But Turkey will not give up this operation no matter what,” he said, adding that terror organizations also had drones in the area.
The deputy prime minister repeated the Ankara government’s claim that it has no eye on any region in Syria but is simply seeking to secure its border from terrorists.
“It’s not only the issue of al-Bab and Manbij,” said Kurtulmus, in reference to the two towns Turkey aims to take back from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD), respectively.
“The issues of Aleppo and Mosul [in Iraq] are as important as the others. These are the two main cities of the region. In line with how the balances develop in these places, political developments in the region will also follow suit,” he added.