Friday, January 26th., 2018
Olive Branch Op: Battle to 'Continue Till Victorious End for the Turkish People'
Olive Branch Op: Battle to 'Continue Till Victorious End for the Turkish People'
©
REUTERS/ Khalil Ashawi
Deputy
of the Turkish ruling AKP party, Metin Kulunk, in an interview with
Sputnik Turkey said that the operation in Manjib will continue until the
complete destruction of the Kurdish YPG forces.
Metin
Kulunk said that Turkey's goal in the course of the military operations
in Syria is to destroy terrorist elements in Afrin and Manbij and
until that goal is achieved, the operation cannot be considered
successful.
Further, looking at the US interests in the region, Kulunk said that the country should abandon the attempt to create an army of terrorists from the “monsters that they trained and armed”.
He
added that both Turkey and Iran possess the necessary state wisdom and
perspicacity, which will allow them to notice and oppose these attempts
by the US to create a drift between the countries.
According to the deputy, “the only right step that the US can take
in this situation is to put an end to its support of the PKK terrorist
organization and Daesh, acting in conjunction with it.”
The US must also allow the transfer of Afrin to the residents of Afrin and Manbij to its residents in order to preserve the demographic structure existing in the region and to ensure the peaceful coexistence in Syria of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and other peoples.
Despite opposition to the operation by many members of the international community, Ankara has stressed that the advance is not aimed against the Syrian government, calling the territorial integrity of Syria its mutual goal with Damascus.
The Syrian government has, however, denounced the operation as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. For its part, Russia has called upon all parties involved to exercise restraint and respect Syria’s territorial integrity.
“We consider the approach taken by the United
States on Syrian territory to be absolutely unacceptable, protecting and
assisting a terrorist organization threatening Turkey's national
security, and as an excuse to cover up the struggle with another
terrorist structure,” Kulunk said.
He
further said that the US does not realize the response of the Turkish
people, if they continue to threaten the stability of the Turkish state
by using the assistance of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK which is
considered a terrorist organization by Ankara) in the region.
“The Turkish border must be completely cleared of the threat to our territorial integrity. And we are sure that the Olive Branch operation launched
in Afrin will continue till the victorious end and will justify the
expectations of the Turkish people, who know firsthand what the struggle
for protecting national interests is like,” the deputy told Sputnik
Turkey.
Further, looking at the US interests in the region, Kulunk said that the country should abandon the attempt to create an army of terrorists from the “monsters that they trained and armed”.
“We are already fed up with their [US] statements and unfulfilled promises. The US is trying to sabotage the efforts
made by the trilateral alliance of Turkey, Russia and Iran to stabilize
the situation in Syria within the framework of the Astana and Sochi
processes,” according to the deputy.
©
AP Photo/ Ismail Coskun, IHA via AP
The US must also allow the transfer of Afrin to the residents of Afrin and Manbij to its residents in order to preserve the demographic structure existing in the region and to ensure the peaceful coexistence in Syria of Arabs, Kurds, Turkmens and other peoples.
“The US should follow a path of clearing the
region of terrorism, while they must give up the desire to teach
Turkey,” Kulunk concluded.
Turkey launched a military operation
called Olive Branch on January 20 in the Kurdish-dominated Syrian city
of Afrin. The city is controlled by the US-backed Kurdish People's
Protection Units (YPG).
The latter is considered to be connected to the Kurdistan Workers'
Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist group in Turkey and
several other countries.
Despite opposition to the operation by many members of the international community, Ankara has stressed that the advance is not aimed against the Syrian government, calling the territorial integrity of Syria its mutual goal with Damascus.
The Syrian government has, however, denounced the operation as a violation of Syria's sovereignty. For its part, Russia has called upon all parties involved to exercise restraint and respect Syria’s territorial integrity.