Erdogan says Turkey not eyeing Syrian territory

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Operation Olive Branch in Syria's northern region is meant to safeguard "territorial integrity of Syria, along with Turkey's national security."

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during the awards ceremony of Ankara Chamber of Industry at the Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center in Ankara, Turkey on January 22, 2018.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan delivers a speech during the awards ceremony of Ankara Chamber of Industry at the Bestepe National Congress and Culture Center in Ankara, Turkey on January 22, 2018.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday that Turkey was not eyeing Syrian territories and clarified that the ongoing operation in Syria's Afrin region would end as soon as its objective was met.

Speaking in the capital Ankara, Erdogan said, "Turkey has no design on the territories of another country.

"The operation in Afrin will end when its aims are fulfilled like the Operation Euphrates Shield."

Erdogan said that Operation Olive Branch was not aimed at the Kurdish people but it was against terrorists in the region.

“It is very clear that we do not have any problem with our Kurdish citizens; it is also not a matter of a Kurdish corridor."

"The incident is a matter of destruction of the terrorist corridor."

"The main purpose of this operation is to contribute to the safety of life and property of Syrian people as well as the territorial integrity of Syria along with Turkey’s national security." he said.

TRT World's Alican Ayanlar has more from Ankara.

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Turkey on January 20 launched a military campaign to remove YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.

Turkey’s biggest security concern is the YPG carving out an autonomous territory near its southeastern border. 

The US supports the SDF, a YPG-led group it founded in 2015, in northeast Syria. Afrin, on the northwest, has no such support from the US but a couple of hundred of Russian soldiers are based in the region.

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This map of northern Syria shows the major players in the region and the areas they control as Turkey continues with Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin and Azaz. January 22, 2018.

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 the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of YPG/ PKK terrorists.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the YPG/PKK since July 2012 when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.

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