Turkey “never asks permission” from anyone before launching a military operation in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Thursday.
This is a truly trite, cynical statement that demonstrates the ethos of the Erdogan regime.
Çavuşoğlu not only accepts the term invader, but is also proud of it.
In essence, it is obvious that Turkey is “gambling” against Russia and Iran, having data against it and the USA.
“We may exchange ideas, but we have never asked and will never ask for permission for our military operations against terrorism,” he said.
“It can happen, suddenly, overnight,” he said in an interview with state broadcaster TRT Haber.
As is well known, cowards attack at night. But when it dawns what will happen? Have they thought about it?
All this two days after Ankara received a big “no” to its new threats from both Iran and Russia.
During the tripartite summit meeting with Iran and Russia on Tuesday in Tehran, Tayyip Erdogan, who has been threatening a Turkish military operation in Syria since May, said he was counting on “the support of Russia and Iran in the fight against of terrorism”.
But his two counterparts issued a clear warning against any operation in northeastern Syria, stressing that such action would be dangerous for the region.
Cavusoglu, however, on Thursday sought to portray Turkey as being deceived by Russia and the US, saying that Ankara “suspended” its operations in eastern Syria in October 2019, “after the promises of the US and Russia”.
An agreement signed under the auspices of Washington and Moscow stipulated the withdrawal of Kurdish forces within 30 kilometers of the Turkish border.
“Attacks against Syrian dissidents and our soldiers have increased,” the Turkish foreign minister said.
“What would the United States do in our place? What would Russia do?
»What does she say to justify her invasion of Ukraine? That there was a threat against her.”
“But there are attacks against us from this zone” of northeastern Syria, Cavusoglu insisted.
Since 2016, Turkey has launched three large-scale incursions into Syria on its southern border against Kurdish armed groups and one attack in early 2020 against the Syrian regime.
Part of northern and eastern Syria is controlled by the forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), mainly a component of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish army that Ankara considers to be a wing of the PKK.
