Turkey's ‘Operation Peace Spring’ in the northeast of Syria is necessary to protect the Turkish border and to eliminate terror threats that can undermine national security, said Turkish Ambassador to Malaysia Dr Merve Safa Kavakci.
She asserted that it was also Turkey's fundamental right to defend its security and safety of subjects within the Turkey-Syria border from the threats of terror groups – the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and People's Protection Units (YPG).
"The corridor (border) that (is) until now used by terrorist organisations PKK and YPG is not acceptable to Turkey. It threatens the territorial integrity, the civil human liberty and lives of the Turkish citizens,” she said in an interview with Bernama, here, to explain her government's action in launching the military operation.
She said the operation is also needed in order to establish a safe zone for the passage of Syrian refugees who seek refuge in Turkey to return home.
There are currently some four million displaced Syrians in Turkey since the Syrian war broke in 2011.
Kavakci said 400,000 of the refugees had returned home.
"There are 300,000 Syrian Kurds that had fled from atrocities carried out by terrorist organisations PKK and YPG on both sides of the borders.
“Therefore, it is the right of the Turkish Republic to protect its border and to protect its citizens and to protect the human rights of the Syrian refugees who had been passing through the Syrian border,” she reiterated.
On the criticism it received from the international bodies, including from the Arab League, following the operation launched last Wednesday, Kavakci said Turkey had to take matter into its own hands as its ‘allies’ had turned their backs on the peace process in that area, leaving Turkey alone to deal with the mounting humanitarian crises affecting the Syrian refugees.
“International communities should not have any worries about Turkey fighting off the terrorist factions. We have done that before, fought them on our own, against the ISIS (Daesh).
“Therefore, for the security of all the Syrian Kurds, for the security of the Kurdish people within Turkey, and territorial integrity of Syria, we are carrying out this operation,” she said.
Kavakci said Turkish forces were also very meticulous and diligent in carrying out the operations in order to avoid harming civilians.
She said the terrorist groups had rained attacks across the border on at least two cities near the border, killing 18 Turkish civilians including a nine-month-old baby so far, while another 147 had been wounded.
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