Turkey determined to continue invading Syria, Iraq
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish Minister of Defense, Yaşar Güler, announced that Turkey is determined to continue invading northern Syria and Iraq to allegedly maintain its southern border.
In an exclusive interview with Politico on July 8, the Turkish minister emphasized his country’s determination to create what he called “a security corridor” on its border with Syria and Iraq.
“We are fully determined to create a 30-40 km deep security corridor along our Iraqi and Syrian borders,” Güler said.
He added that they are determined “to completely clear the region of terrorists,” in reference to the fighters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Northeast Syria, as Ankara sees the SDF an offshoot of the PKK, although the force is a key partner of the U.S.-led Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS.
“Some of the militants have been U.S. allies in the battle against the ISIS terrorist group, but are also connected to the PKK,” Güler noted.
“We will continue operations until the last terrorist is neutralized,” he confirmed.
Guler added in the statement emphasized that the need for normalization with the Syrian government, which refuses to accept normalization before Turkey withdraw from Syria completely.