German journalist backs Turkey's fight against PYD/PKK

By Cuneyt Karadag and Erbil Basay

ANKARA (AA) - Speaking about Turkish military’s operation in Syria’s Afrin region, German journalist Christoph Horstel said it is a duty of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to prevent his country and its people from being attacked.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin in northwestern Syria.

“Another country, Washington is building a terrorist militia of 30,000 men. Many participants will be Kurds, that's the plan. However, this militia works together with the PKK which is a terrorist organization in Turkey," Horstel, former Middle-East correspondent of public broadcaster ARD, said while speaking to Anadolu Agency.

“We will support Turkey if it fights terrorism in Syria and then withdraws without trying to play a permanent role in Syrian politics,” he said.

According to the Turkish General Staff, Operation Olive Branch aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN Charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity.

Horstel said that the U.S. has been using Kurds for many decades and it will be harmful for Kurds themselves and for everyone else.

- Turkey-Germany relations

"Erdogan had tremendous services in his country and he had to do a tremendous job of cleaning up after the coup (July 15, 2016 defeated coup) because his duty as Turkish President is to keep his country and people safe," he said.

"Unfortunately, in recent years Germany has moved away politically from Turkey, and this is the German government not Germany. The media here (Germany) are doing everything to slander President Erdogan, to make Turkey and Islam look bad," he said.

"It is just forgotten that we have some millions of very well integrated, very hard-working decent Turks here which are cooperating well and who have become part of the prosperity of this republic," he added.

Horstel said that the two nations are connected 'whether the government in Berlin understands this or not'.

Germany has a three million-strong Turkish community, many of whom are second- and third-generation German-born citizens of Turkish descent whose grandparents moved to the country during the 1960s.

Horstel also praised Erdogan’s stance against the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

"President Erdogan has taken a very good position…Turkey is being punished for doing good things," he said.