Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin reiterated on Sunday night that Ankara was ready to launch a new military operation in northern Syria and that it could be launched at any time.
Faraan: According to Turkish media, Kalin added: “In the past, we carried out operations in the north of northern Syria. At that time, we were under pressure to [not do it], but we carried out those operations in the interests of our nation.”
“Our president has made it clear that the operation could be launched at any moment and we are ready to do so,” he was quoted as saying. The Turkish president had previously said that the country’s military would launch military operations on its borders to fight what he called terrorism, and that a decision would be made soon.
The Turkish army has been operating since 2016 in two operations: the Euphrates Shield (August 2016 till March 2017) and Operation Olive Branch (December 2017 to March 2018), where it has seized 4,000 kilometers from Syria, including Afrin and the cities of Bab, Azzaz and Jarablus.
On the other hand, Ankara launched a military operation called “Spring of Peace” in northern Syria on October 16, 2019, to repel Kurdish militias known as the “Syrian Democratic Forces” from the border areas of al-Raqqa and al-Hasakah, a week after The ceasefire agreement between Ankara and Washington was suspended and Turkey gave Kurdish militants five days to withdraw to a depth of 32 km from the Turkish border.
Russian sanctions
In another part of his speech, Kalin addressed the issue of Western sanctions against Russia, saying that Ankara would never join the sanctions against Moscow for its economic interests. “We rely on foreign energy sources and we have made our position clear to the West,” he said. A spokesman for the Turkish presidency said that sanctions against Russia were targeting the Turkish economy more than any other country and that “naturally we are not looking for this to happen.” Erdogan had previously said his country would not participate in Western sanctions against Russia. According to the President of Turkey, his country can be one of the countries guaranteeing the security of Ukraine.
