Turkey will never allow a new state in northern Syria: Erdoğan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Dec. 24 that Turkey will never allow the formation of a new state in northern Syria.


"We will never allow the founding of this kind of state,” despite efforts to do so, Erdoğan told Turkey’s Foreign Economic Relations Board (DEİK) in Istanbul.

• Erdoğan also reiterated Turkey’s wish to see a “terror-free safe zone” in northern Syria for the safety of its southeastern border provinces.

"We have been saying this from the beginning. If this [issue] isn’t dealt with, Gaziantep is always hanging by a thread, Kilis is always hanging by a thread, Şanlıurfa is hanging by a thread," he added, mentioning three border provinces.

The Turkish army is currently active in northern Syria, assisting Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters under Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in late August to improve security, support coalition forces, and eliminate the terror threat along Turkey’s border.
  [hurriyetdailynews.com]
24/12/16
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