Ömer Çelik, deputy chair and spokesperson of Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), advised reporters on Wednesday that Ankara had no function in latest developments in Syria the place anti-regime forces captured a key metropolis and are advancing towards one other one.
Çelik stated at a news convention within the capital, Ankara, that Türkiye didn’t want an escalation of violence in its southern neighbor. “Developments in Syria stem from its own internal dynamics,” he highlighted. He was responding to allegations that Türkiye was unfairly accused by some circles on this subject.
“Allegations that Türkiye incited the latest developments are baseless,” he stated. Çelik additionally hit out on the primary opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which claimed Türkiye’s coverage towards Syria concerned weakening Iran’s presence.
“We don’t have a policy to strengthen or weaken any state. We are in Syria only for Türkiye’s interests and carried out operations (for counterterrorism) in certain places,” he stated.
Türkiye has a prolonged border with its southern neighbor Syria and has lengthy struggled to maintain it secure because the terrorist group YPG, the Syria wing of PKK, gained a foothold on its border. It carried out a number of cross-border operations towards the group and backed Syrian opposition forces to drive away the PKK from cities it occupied. Syrian opposition forces captured Tal Rifaat, held by the PKK/YPG, in parallel with the most recent offensive of Syrian anti-regime forces in direction of Aleppo, although with none assist from Türkiye.
Çelik acknowledged that the regime carried out a number of assaults focusing on Idlib and brought about civilian losses, including that it raised tensions. “Our president repeatedly conveyed Türkiye’s concerns about these tensions. Eventually, we witnessed the reaction to these tensions,” he stated. “It is an outright lie that Türkiye incited this (offensive). We always raised our voices against any clash and supported the status quo. We conveyed this to all parties to the conflict,” he acknowledged.
On the Syrian National Army’s (SNA) seize of Tal Rifaat, Çelik stated related events did not expel the terrorist group from Tal Rifaat and this posed a risk to Türkiye. “The regime invited terrorist groups to places it abandoned. This lays bare the cooperation between the Assad regime and terrorist groups. We don’t want terrorist groups in Tal Rifaat and Manbij,” he stated, referring to hotbeds of PKK/YPG exercise.
Source: www.dailysabah.com