Turkey wants safe-zone in Syria soon: President

By Erdogan Cagatay Zontur

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will apply its own plan of action, if Turkish soldiers are not allowed to control safe-zone in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday.

“Turkey has no time and patience and it wants safe-zone to be built along eastern Euphrates line, along Syria, as soon as possible,” he said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.

Since 2016, Turkey has conducted two major military operations in northwestern Syria -- Operations Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch -- to purge the region of terrorist groups Daesh and the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the terrorist organization PKK.

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 some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.