President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday said Turkey will clear its southern border of terrorists, starting from Syria’s Manbij.
“SAFE ZONE FOR OUR BROTHERS”
Speaking at a campaign rally in Iskenderun district of southern Hatay province, Erdogan said that Turkey would give terrorists “lessons throughout our southern border starting from Manbij.”
He recalled Turkey’s successful Operation Olive Branch in Syria’s Afrin and said his country will not allow a terror corridor against itself in northern Syria. “We will establish a safe zone where our Syrian brothers can return home peacefully,” Erdoğan added.
Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, including Al-Bab, Afrin and Azaz, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence there to return home.
Following the two successful operations, Turkey has vowed to carry out a counter-terrorist operation in Manbij and east of the Euphrates in northern Syria against the terrorist group YPG/PKK.