Turkey’s counter-terrorism efforts do not target any specific ethnicities in northern Syria, but focus solely on the terror groups, the defense minister said on Sunday, Eurasia Diary reports citing Anadolu Agency.
Hulusi Akar’s remarks came at the 19th Doha Forum held in Qatar where he delivered remarks on international efforts against terrorism and its impacts on the political environment.
He also spoke about the Turkish government’s fight against terror groups Daesh/ISIS and the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terror group.
“We don’t have any problems with Kurds or any other ethnicity,” Akar said, adding terror groups like YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists -- were Turkey’s only concern.
Stating that terrorism gave birth to unprecedented political and social consequences, Akar said it also paved the way for radical ideologies, collapsed states, proxy wars, conflicts and mass migration.
He noted that extremist groups not only posed a threat to their own countries but also harmed the international community.
Akar went on to say that every weapon given to the YPG was transferred to the PKK, which has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for decades killings tens of thousands of people.
The Turkish defense chief stressed that Ankara warned the international community not to wage a war on Daesh terrorists through the use of another terror group, the YPG/PKK..
Akar said that Turkey only aims to protect all civilians regardless of their ethnic background, the region and the civilian infrastructure in Syria.
“We repaired a hospital and water reservoir damaged by the YPG/PKK,” he said, adding Turkish security units have still been clearing the improvised explosive devices (IEDs) left by the terror group.
He noted a recent survey held in northeastern Syria showed most of the participants supported Turkey’s operation in the region.