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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Turks: efforts to set up |
| 2016-09-10 |
| Turkey’s efforts to create a safe zone in Syria will continue until the Turkish border is safe and all threats to the country have been removed, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said on Sept. 9, Reuters reported. Turkey launched a full-scale offensive into northern Syria last month in an effort to sweep Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants from its borders. The Turkish military is backing Syrian rebel groups against the ISIL, while also targeting the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the armed winged of the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD). “Our efforts to set up a safe zone in Syria will continue until the Turkish border’s safety is maintained and threats against Turkey are eliminated,” Yıldırım told journalists in Ankara. He also added that there was “unconfirmed information” that a Turkish tank had been struck in Syria. NATO supports Turkey’s right to defense in Syria Turkey is within its rights in defending itself by staging an incursion in Syria, according to NATO’s secretary-general, who is staging a visit to Ankara. “Turkey is the NATO ally most affected by the turmoil and violence in Syria and in Iraq. Turkey has suffered many terrorist attacks. Turkey has the right to defend itself, as all nations have,” Jens Stoltenberg told the Hürriyet Daily News in an interview on Sept. 9. “I welcome Turkish efforts to fight ISIL. This is important for Turkey but this is important also for all NATO allies,” he said. Stoltenberg met President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım and Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, as well as opposition parties, in his first trip to the Turkish capital since July 15. |
| Posted by:Steve White |