Turkey state officials announced their aim in military operations in Syria.
Turkey pursues the freedom of the Arabs and the Kurds with its presence in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.
"We consider the security and peace of the Arabs in Syria as our own business. We see the problems of the Kurds as our own,” Erdogan told a ceremony at the Presidential Complex in capital Ankara.
He added: “Why have we presence in Syria now? To give the freedom of our Arab and Kurdish brothers there back, not that of terror groups.”
Erdogan went on to say: "In Syria, it is a matter of freedom and its territorial integrity.”
Turkey will not leave Syrian Kurds at the mercy of the terrorist PKK/PYD, as it didn't leave the Arabs to the hands of the Daesh terror group, he said.
Turkey is determined to continue its fight against terrorism, the country’s presidential aide said on Monday.
“It is out of the question for Turkey to get permission or consent from Israel or any other country [to fight terror],” Ibrahim Kalin told reporters in the capital Ankara after a Cabinet meeting.
Kalin’s remarks came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday attacked the Turkish president over Turkey's counter-terror operation and Cyprus issues on Twitter.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to Netanyahu’s tweet, saying Israeli prime minister is heading “state terror.”