Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News – 16-10-2019
A Palestinian Turkish Academic and TRT World Editor-at-Large says Turkey has the right to go into Syrian land and protect its border as per a signed agreement.
Heavy fighting continued as Turkey pressed on with its military operation, now in its eighth day, against Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the military action aims to remove the Kurdish-led forces from the border area and create a “safe zone” to which millions of Syrian refugees can be returned.
Speaking to Radio Islam, Ahmed al Burai Alioglu says it’s unclear how long Turkey’s operation will last in Syria.
“It seem that this time the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) are not backing down easily. So Turkey will go ahead with their operation. It’s a very huge swathe of land we are speaking about and the militias and terrorists are not backing down easily. So it might take a while, but Turkey is again adamantly insisting on and cleaning the region.”
Turkey is facing mounting international pressure, fresh US sanctions and the potential of a direct confrontation with Syrian government forces.
Alioglu says despite the international criticism surrounding the so-called “brutality” of Turkey’s operation in Syria, the country is trying its best to disarm the groups.
“They are doing this because they’ve been trying with the United States to disarm the group and to allow them to give the power to the local councils, to the native people to go back to their lands that has been liberated from Daesh.”
The move by Turkey Comes after the United States announced it was withdrawing its troops from the area, leaving the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), its main ally in the battle ISIS without US military support.
Listen to the interview with Ahmed al Burai Alioglu
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