UPDATE - Turkey secured 'over 70 percent' of Syria's Afrin

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM KALIN, OTHER EDITS, REVISED HEADLINE

By Nilay Kar Onum

ANKARA (AA) - Over 70 percent of Syria’s Afrin region has been secured during the Turkish-led Operation Olive Branch, Turkey’s presidential spokesman said on Thursday.

Speaking to news channel TRT Haber in the capital Ankara, Ibrahim Kalin said: “Geographically, over 70 percent of it [Afrin] has been secured right now.

“The circle has been completely tightened around the terrorists. We predict that the center of Afrin will be completely cleared of terrorists within a short period of time.

“They wanted to make Afrin a new Qandil. This [desire] has been eliminated through Operation Olive Branch.”

Iraq’s Qandil Mountains have served as a headquarters for the terror group PKK.

Kalin also addressed continued U.S. support, including weapons, for the terrorist YPG/PKK and PYD/PKK -- Syrian branches of the terrorist PKK -- as “reliable allies” in the fight against Daesh, ignoring Turkey pointing out the groups’ terrorist status.

“Every support that the US administration gives to the PYD and YPG in the guise of fighting Daesh gives breath to the PKK,” he said.

“Every weapon and bullet given to the PYD and YPG means the PKK grows stronger in other regions."

In its three-decade terrorist war on Turkey, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives, including those of women and children.

- Crisis of confidence with US

More than 3,500 terrorists have been "neutralized" since the start of Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northwestern Afrin region, the Turkish General Staff said in a statement on Thursday morning.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

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

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey’s borders and the region as well as to protect Syrians from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.

Addressing the reasons for Turkey’s “crisis of confidence” with Washington, Kalin again cited U.S. support for the YPG/PKK, and also complained of the U.S. not taking steps against the terrorist group FETO.

The Fetullah Terrorist Organization (FETO) and its U.S.-based leader Fetullah Gulen orchestrated the defeated coup of July 15, 2016, which left 250 people martyred and nearly 2,200 injured.

Ankara also accuses FETO of being behind a long-running campaign to overthrow the state through the infiltration of Turkish institutions, particularly the military, police, and judiciary.

Turkey has long sought the extradition of Gulen and complained of the U.S. dragging out the process.

- Eastern Ghouta crisis

Syria's besieged Eastern Ghouta region will continue to be a priority issue for Turkey in the coming days, Kalin said. “Our priority is stopping the airstrikes [there].”

“It is unacceptable that thousands of people are punished collectively with 300-500 terrorists there given as an excuse," he added.

Home to some 400,000 people, Eastern Ghouta has remained the target of a crippling regime siege for the last five years.

The Assad regime has stepped up its siege in recent months, preventing the delivery of badly needed humanitarian aid and leaving thousands of residents in need of medical treatment.

Last week, a UN inquiry commission released a report accusing the Assad regime of committing war crimes in Eastern Ghouta, including the use of chemical weapons on civilians, causing mass starvation, and forcibly preventing medical evacuations.