‘Turkey's operation aims to form safe zone in N. Syria’

ANKARA

Turkey's Operation Peace Spring aims to from a safe zone and to eliminate the terror groups in northern Syria, the head of the Turkish Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said on Thursday.

"The operation aims to form a safe zone and to eliminate the terror groups there," Volkan Bozkir told members of the committee.

"The operations also aims to resettle Syrians, who we have been hosting for a long time, by ensuring a suitable environment in the region," Bozkir added.

On Wednesday, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist elements and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees as well as Syria’s territorial integrity.

The terrorist group PKK and its extension the YPG/PYD constitute the biggest threat to Syria’s future, jeopardizing the country’s territorial integrity and unitary structure, Turkish leaders have said.

Ankara has also stressed that supporting terrorists under the pretext of fighting Daesh is unacceptable.

Turkey shares a 911-kilometer (566-mile) border with Syria, and it has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates and the formation of a “terrorist corridor” there.

Turkey plans to resettle 2 million Syrians in a 30-km-wide (19-mi) safe zone to be set up in Syria, stretching from the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border, including Manbij. However, the presence of terror groups such as the PKK, PYD, and YPG risk its formation.

In two separate cross-border operations, Turkey has rid an area of 4,000 square km (1,544 sq mi) in Syria of terrorist groups.

Since 2016, Turkey has conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Operation Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- to purge the region of the terrorist groups Daesh and the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the terrorist group PKK.

The two operations were in line with the country’s right to self-defense under international law, UN Security Council resolutions, especially no. 1624 (2005), 2170 (2014) and 2178 (2014), and the right to self-defense under the Article 51 of UN Charter, while being respectful of Syria’s territorial integrity.

During Operation Euphrates Shield, Turkish forces neutralized 3,060 Daesh terrorists.

Turkey has suffered greatly from Daesh attacks inside the country. More than 300 people have been killed in attacks claimed by Daesh in Turkey, where the terrorist group has targeted civilians in suicide bombings and armed attacks in recent years.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

Meanwhile, Bozkir said that the committee will host on Oct. 17 Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Kudret Ozersay in the committee.

He will inform our committee on the recent incidents in TRNC and the region, said Bozkir.

In 1974, following a coup aiming at Cyprus’ annexation by Greece, Ankara had to intervene as a guarantor power. In 1983, the TRNC was founded.

The decades since then have seen several attempts to resolve the dispute, all ending in failure. The latest one, held with the participation of the guarantor countries -- Turkey, Greece, and the U.K. -- ended in 2017 in Switzerland.