UPDATE - Turkey pursues freedom of Arabs, Kurds in Syria: Erdogan

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Faruk Zorlu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey pursues the freedom of the Arabs and the Kurds with its presence in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

"We consider the security and peace of the Arabs in Syria as our own business. We see the problems of the Kurds as our own,” Erdogan told a ceremony at the Presidential Complex in capital Ankara.

Turkey also regards the security and the peace of the Turkmens as its own business, the president said.

He added: “Why have we presence in Syria now? To give the freedom of our Arab and Kurdish brothers there back, not that of terror groups.”

Erdogan went on to say: "In Syria, it is a matter of freedom and its territorial integrity.”

Turkey will not leave Syrian Kurds at the mercy of the terrorist PKK/PYD, as it didn't leave the Arabs to the hands of the Daesh terror group, he said.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.

Erdogan recalled that nearly 300,000 Syrians left Turkey to return to hometowns, liberated from terrorists in Turkey’s counter-terror operations.

Turkey ensured the security in the Jarabulus city of northern Syria and Afrin, northwestern Syrian city, the president said.

He added that Turkey will also ensure security in the Sinjar region of northern Iraq.

Turkey has conducted two successful cross-border operations into Syria since 2016 -- Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations -- both meant to eradicate the presence of YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists near Turkey’s borders.