Olive Branch Operation: Is Turkey determined to go all the way to Iraqi border?
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani held a joint press conference at the Presidential Complex in Ankara after the Russia-Iran-Turkey Trilateral Summit. Erdoğan stated that they were pleased to host the summit which is an expression of the efforts for security and peace in Syria. He also stated that important developments had taken place in Syria since the first summit hosted by Putin in Sochi, in November.
Erdogan said “Today, we held consultations that we believe will shed light on the upcoming period and identified steps to be taken. Regarding zones for reduction of tension, we as Turkey are fulfilling our responsibilities precisely”.
Emphasizing that Turkey’s commitment in this regard was demonstrated by establishing 8th observation point in IDLIB a short while ago, Erdoğan continued as follows: “We expect the following point about Syria to be considered by the whole world: The issue of maintaining Syria’s territorial integral requires us to stand at the same distance to all terror organizations. The exclusion of terror organizations imposing threat to “not only Syria”, but also to neighboring countries, Turkey to be in the first place as well as the whole region without exception is very important
President Erdogan reminded that Turkey hosted 3.5 million Syrian refugees and added that 160 thousand Syrians had already returned to their homeland to start a new life in their country.
Erdogan said, “We know that hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees are waiting to return to the region after we have completed the search for explosives in the Afrin region and repair the infrastructure“. We are ready to work together with our Russian and Iranian friends to make the region livable for our Syrian brothers.
He went on to say: “I see it necessary once again that we will not stop until we secure all the zones under the control of the PYD / YPG, Manbij to be in the first place”.
