Erdoğan slams Pentagon spokesperson’s comments on Afrin op

Baku. 23 February. REPORT.AZ/ "We hope that Syria and Iraq will soon achieve the stability".

Report informs, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on February 23 at the expanded meeting of provincial chairs of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

He said there are currently 3,5 million Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Turkey: "When we helped them, we saw that terror came to the borders of our country. Terrorists are neutralized during the thirty-five-day Zeytun Branch Operation, and 1000 villages have already been cleared from terrorists. The terrorists have been withdrawn from the main targets in the region. Therefore, the operation will continue faster, and we will soon clear Afrin cty center from terrorists." 

He also slammed Friday recent comments by a spokesperson of the US Department of Defense claiming there were civilian casualties in Turkey's Operation Olive Branch to clear the PKK-affiliated People's Protection Units (YPG) in Syria's northwestern Afrin region.

"During Operation Euphrates Shield, 2000 square-kilometers of land were cleared of terrorists. With Euphrates Shield, Jarabulus and al-Bab were cleared of Daesh and PYD terrorists. One hundred and forty thousand people living here returned to their homelands,” Erdoğan said.

"Our presence only disturbs terrorists and terrorist supporters. If we did not distinguish between civilians and terrorists, the Afrin operation would have finished long ago. The Turkish military has said it is putting the "utmost importance" on not harming any civilians", Erdoğan said commenting on the statement by the US Department of Defense spokesperson.