Turkey not reducing troops in Turkish Cyprus: Erdoğan

ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

Turkey has the right to keep its troops in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC), President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on June 14.

Erdoğan was speaking to reporters prior to his visit to Tajikistan's capital Dusanbe, where he will attend the 5th Summit of Heads of State of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

“Turkey is not reducing its troops in Northern Cyprus,” Erdoğan said, adding that the country "does not need permission from anyone" on the issue.

Commenting on an attack on a Turkish army's observation point in Syria's Idlib on Thursday which left three soldiers wounded, Erdoğan said: “Turkey will not remain silent if Syrian regime continues to attack observation points in Idlib."

On the Turkey-U.S. cooperation in Manbij Erdoğan said: “Our partner, the U.S., did not keep its promise on Manbij [...] However, it doesn't mean that we give up on the Manbij issue, we keep all our plans and we will continue to do.”