No one can design region’s future without Turkey: PM Yıldırım

GAZİANTEP - Anadolu Agency

No one can design the region’s future without Turkey, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on March 24. 

“[They tell us:] Stop at the west of the Euphrates River, don’t cross to its east. There is no such thing. There is no east or west for terror; it’s our main target until we completely get rid of it. We will do whatever is necessary. No one can design the region’s future without Turkey,” Yıldırım said, addressing academics at the Hasan Kalyoncu University in the southeastern Gaziantep province.

He said the Turkish military has been “successfully” conducting land and air operations, vowing that it will eliminate threats to its border security and territorial integrity. 

“Wherever there is a terror threat, it is a target for us,” the prime minister added.

Turkey launched “Operation Olive Branch” on Jan. 20 to clear People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants from Afrin. On March 18, the Turkish armed forces and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) declared full control over the city.

Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

Four Turkish soldiers were killed on March 22 in eastern Turkey and Syria’s northwestern district of Afrin in two separate attacks carried out by the YPG and the PKK, officials have said.