By Cansu Dikme and Meryem Goktas
ANKARA (AA) - Ankara must take its “own measures” in Syria's Idlib province due to its shared border with Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
“Turkey shares a border with Idlib. Thus, we should take our own measures,” Erdogan told a meeting of his Justice and Development (AK) Party in the Turkish capital.
“It is us that shares a 911-kilometer [566-mile] long border line with Syria. It is us who is under constant abuse and threat,” he added.
Erdogan's remarks come after the Turkish military announced the creation of observation posts in Idlib under a May deal between Turkey, which backs groups opposed to Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime, and Russia and Iran, which support Assad.
The agreement aims to ensure the continuation of a cease-fire agreed last December between the three guarantor nations.
According to the military statement, these de-escalation zones were created to “enhance the effectiveness of the cease-fire regime, end conflicts, bring humanitarian aid to those in need [and] establish the necessary conditions for the return of those displaced”.
Turkey’s latest military campaign follows Operation Euphrates Shield, which saw the Free Syrian Army, backed by Turkish forces, clear Daesh from territory in northern Syria between August 2016 and March.