UPDATE - Turkey to save N. Syria from ‘cruelty of terrorists’

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY ERDOGAN

By Ferdi Turkten

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will save northern Syria from the cruelty of YPG/PKK terrorist organizations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

“The way we freed Afrin, we will save other lands of northern Syria [such as] Manbij, Ayn al-Arab, Tel Abyad from the cruelty of separatist [YPG/PKK] terrorist organization,” Erdogan said at a graduation ceremony of Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy in the capital Ankara.

“Now, they are digging trenches around Manbij,” Erdogan said, referring to the terrorist group YPG/PKK. “They are digging their own graves,” he added.

“Apparently, they will not leave a lot of work for us,” the Turkish president said.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to free northwestern Syrian city of Afrin of YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists. On March 18, Turkish troops and the Free Syrian Army liberated the Afrin city center.

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 death of some 40,000 people, including those of women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.