Turkey backs Syria’s territorial integrity: Turkish FM

ANKARA – Anadolu Agency

Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Feb. 3 reiterated Turkey's stance that the country fully backed Syria's territorial integrity despite the launch of Afrin operation. 

Talking to Al Jazeera, Çavuşoğlu said that there is no other country inthe region or beyond supporting Syria's territorial integrity and sovereignty more than Turkey. 

"And also in Astana, in Sochi, if you look at these declarations, you will see that we are for unity and territorial integrity of the country," he added. 

About the rocket attacks carried out by the YPG/PKK militants based in Syria on Turkey, he blamed the U.S. and European countries for providing weapons to the terror group. 

"They were sending harassment fires, rockets to different parts of Turkey. It became a serious threat to our security and to our borders," he said. 

Çavuşoğlu slammed the double standards of the U.S. and some European countries. 

"Particularly in our fight against terrorism, we see double standards everywhere, in the U.S. and elsewhere. In Europe also, even some countries, they support PKK just because they share [the] same ideology, Marxist, communist ideology." 

He also said Turkey was aware of some neighboring countries' unhappiness over the role Turkey was playing in Syria. 

“We were the only country who helped those civilians and the opposition to be evacuated from Aleppo. We worked with Russia," he added.

“Russia actually delivered what they promised," he said.