Turkey's ruling party criticizes Turkish Cypriot leader

By Dilara Hamit

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party on Sunday condemned the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) president's remarks on Turkey’s ongoing anti-terror operation in northern Syria.

"The statement made by the President of TRNC against our Operation Peace Spring is inadequate and disrespectful," said Omer Celik, the party spokesman.

Celik criticized Mustafa Akinci for inviting Turkey to hold a dialogue with terrorist organizations.

"Operation Peace Spring is being conducted against a terrorist organization, which is a murder network.

"Mr. Akinci does not formulate a single sentence against the terrorist organization, but he criticizes our efforts against terrorism. This is a clear disrespect," Celik said on Twitter.

He also reminded Akinci the number of citizens, soldiers and babies killed as the result of the attacks.

"For the sake of your fallen martyrs, you should not use this disrespectful language," the party spokesman added.

Celik stressed that the Cyprus Peace Operation was carried out against a “murder network”, adding it was an operation that established peace.

"Operation Peace Spring is also a fight against terrorism [...]," he added.

"These statements that do not represent the TRNC citizens is a black stain for Akinci.

"We have the same will for Operation Peace Spring which we had while we were conducting the Cyprus Peace Operation," Celik maintained.