Turkey: Syria operation targets terror groups in Syria

By Nilay Kar Onum

ANKARA (AA) - The only target of the Operation Olive Branch is to eliminate terrorists from its region of operations, Turkey’s deputy prime minister and government spokesman said on Monday.

Speaking after a Cabinet meeting in the capital Ankara, Bekir Bozdag said: “The only target of this operation is the PKK, KCK, PYD/YPG, and Daesh terror organizations.”

Operation Olive Branch in Syria is not an operation “against our Kurdish brothers living in the region,” he added.

Calling the three-day-old operation not a “choice” but an “obligation,” he said it has been going successfully according to plan and it would continue with the same success.

No member of the Turkish Armed Forces involved in the operation has been martyred so far, Bozdag added.

He also stated that the PYD/PKK terror group had liberated Daesh terrorists in Afrin on the condition that they fight Turkey.

Bozdag also dismissed claims that Turkey gave a commitment to Russia concerning the operation, saying that Turkey had given no guarantees to Russia, or in fact any other country.

On Saturday, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to remove the PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh terror groups from Afrin, northwestern Syria.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.