Turkey slams Arab League's comments on anti-terror campaign in Syria

Turkey strongly condemned the Arab League for mischaracterising Turkey’s counter-terrorism operation in northeastern Syria as an “invasion,” Fahrettin Altun, Communications Director to the Turkish Presidency, said on Saturday.

"We are fully aware that government which dislike Turkey’s advocacy for Palestinians, objections against handing over Jerusalem to occupiers and calling things as we see them –including coups, murders, and the bombardment of civilians in Yemen— do not speak for the Arab world," Altun said.

"We can only take pride in the fact that governments, which did not mind the terrorist organization PKK’s occupation of a predominantly Arab area, the displacement of Arab civilians from their lands, or the destruction of Arab villages, are unsettled by #OperationPeaceSpring," he said.

Egypt on Thursday called for an emergency Arab Leauge meeting to discuss Turkey's anti-terror operation in northern Syria, criticising Ankara for what it said was "against the Kurds" in northern Syria. 

Turkish rejects any conflation of ethnic Kurds with PKK/YPG terrorists, saying the PKK/YPG terrorises Syrian Kurds, Arabs, and Turkmen alike.

In its 30-year terrorist campaign, the PKK — recognised as a terror group by the US, EU, and Turkey — has taken some 40,000 lives, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

Turkey had repeatedly said it was planning a counter-terrorist operation into Syria targeting the PKK/YPG, following two successful operations since 2016.