Sputnik
January 31, 2018
Turkey launched its operation in Syria on January 20 and has repeatedly emphasized that the campaign doesn’t in any way threaten the Arab Republic’s territorial integrity.
Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has slammed the French President Emmanuel Macron, saying that he has a “flawed understanding” of Ankara’s anti-terrorist campaign dubbed the ‘Olive Branch.’
According to the prime minister, “the whole world knows and should know that Turkey does not operate with the mentality of an invader.”
The statement came in response to Macron’s remark, “If it turns out that this operation takes a turn other than to fight a potential terrorist threat to the Turkish border and becomes an invasion operation, [then] this becomes a real problem for us.”
“I immediately called for precaution and restraint and voiced this concern during the early hours [of this offensive],” Macron told Le Figaro.
According to Macron, the Turkish operation “implies having discussions and decisions both between Europeans, but more widely between allies, because it changes the nature of this Turkish incursion and that is why I will speak in the coming days again with Erdogan.”
Previously, the French president expressed Paris’ concern over the humanitarian situation in Syria in the wake of Ankara’s offensive, however, recognized Turkey’s “security needs.”
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Since January 20, Turkey has been conducting a military operation in Syria’s Afrin, an area is controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces-affiliated and US-backed YPG militias, which Ankara considers to be linked with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been waging an armed conflict in Turkey seeking autonomy and equal rights for the Kurds in the country.
The Turkish authorities have emphasized that its military campaign is aimed…