President Erdogan Signed Land Operations Against Terrorists In Syria And Iraq

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Wikimedia Commons/Kremlin.ru/The Russian Presidential Press and Information Office)

JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdoan on Monday signaled land operations in northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate terrorist threats, adding that Turkey would not remain silent against terrorism.

"First of all, this operation in northern Iraq and northern Syria was not an operation carried out with random thinking saying 'Who will say what?' or 'how did that happen?'" President Erdogan said, launching Daily Sabah November 21.

"As we have said before, if someone disturbs our country and land, we will make them pay the price. So, there are terrorist organizations in our south that plan multiple attacks or carry out such attacks and pose a threat (to Turkey)," President Erdogan said on the presidential plane on his return from Qatar.

President Erdogan's remarks came after Turkey launched Operation LAW-Sword on Sunday morning, a cross-border air campaign against the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian branch YPG, which has illegal hiding places across Iraq's and Syria's borders, where they plan an attack on Turkish soil.

"This is not limited to air operations," President Erdogan stressed, adding that the relevant units would consult and take appropriate steps.

Turkey's air operations followed a terrorist attack last Sunday on Jalan Istiklal which was bustling in Istanbul, killing at least six people and causing 81 others to be injured.

The Ministry of Defense said the operation was carried out in line with self-defense rights based on Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

President Erdogan explained that nearly 70 aircraft, including armed drones, took part in the operation, adding a total of 89 terror targets, including shelters, bunkers, caves, tunnels, and ammunition depots were destroyed.

"At this point, 45 terrorist targets at a depth of about 140 kilometers (87 miles) in northern Iraq, and 44 targets at a depth of about 20 kilometers in Syria were hit," President Erdogan said.

Earlier this year, President Erdogan said Turkey was ready to clean up the northern Syrian Tal Rifaat and Manbij areas, near the Turkish border, from terrorist elements in a bid to eliminate terror threats from the region.

"We are taking another step in building a 30-kilometer security zone along our southern border. We will clean up Tal Rifaat and Manbij," he stressed.

The PKK is a banned terrorist organization in the United States, Turkey, and the European Union. However, Washington's support for its affiliates in Syria, the YPG, has been a major pressure on bilateral relations with Ankara.

The YPG has taken control of large parts of northeastern Syria after Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad withdrew in 2012. The US is partnering with YPG terrorists in northeastern Syria in its fight against the Islamic State terrorist group. On the other hand, Turkey strongly opposes the presence of the YPG in northern Syria.

It is known, Ankara has launched several cross-border operations to Syria since 2016, controlling several areas north with the aim of expelling YPG/PKK and building a 30-kilometer deep safe zone. The three operations were Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018) and Peace Spring (2019).