Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday rejected a call by the main opposition leader to establish contact with Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad.
“He says: ‘Sit at a table with Assad and discuss this issue’,” Erdogan said referring to remarks by Republican People’s Party (CHP) head Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
“What would we talk about with a murderer who has killed a million of his citizens,” Erdogan said in his address to mukhtars— heads of Turkish villages and neighbourhoods—at the presidential complex in Turkey’s capital, Ankara.
“You can go arm in arm with terrorists when necessary … But, we haven’t so far walked with those taking that path with the permission of terror organisations, and we will not walk with them in the future,” he added.
On Tuesday, in his address to his party members, Kilicdaroglu called on the government to establish contact with the Assad regime to resolve the conflict in Syria.
On January 20, Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch to clear the YPG/PKK and Daesh from Afrin in northwestern Syria.
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 terrorists.
The operation is being conducted under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council decisions, self-defence rights under the UN charter and respect for Syria’s territorial integrity, it said.
The military has also said that only terrorist targets are being destroyed and “utmost importance” is being given to not harm any civilians. Afrin has been a major hideout for the YPG/PKK since July 2012, when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to these groups without putting up a fight.
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