ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2019) Turkey has strongly condemned the Arab League's statement, which slammed Ankara's ongoing operation in northern Syria, Communications Director at the Turkish Presidential Administration Fahrettin Altun said.
On Saturday, the secretary-general of the Arab League, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, called on Turkey to immediately halt the military operation against the northern Syrian Kurdish units and withdraw troops from the territory of the war-torn Arab republic. The organization's statement said that the member states agreed to consider measures of political and economic nature against Turkey over what they called an invasion.
"I strongly condemn the Arab League for mischaracterizing Turkey's counter-terrorism operation in northeastern Syria as an 'invasion' in a statement issued earlier today," Altun wrote on his Twitter page.
From his point of view, the statement of the organization was not reflecting the position of the Arab world.
"We can only take pride in the fact that governments, which did not mind the terrorist organization [Kurdistan Workers' Party] PKK's occupation of a predominantly Arab area, the displacement of Arab civilians from their lands, or the destruction of Arab villages, are unsettled by #OperationPeaceSpring," Altun added.
On Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the launch of military operation Peace Spring in northern Syria against the Islamic State terrorist organization (IS, banned in Russia) and the PKK, which Ankara designates as terrorists. The air component of the operation has begun the same day in the Ras al-Ain town of Al Hasakah province, while the land operations have been launched shortly after.
The Turkish offensive in northern Syria is part of Ankara's long-standing goal to clear its border area of both Kurdish militia and IS terrorists, and create a so-called safe zone along the cleared line. The military operation has already resulted in civilian deaths on both sides of the border. Damascus views the operation as a violation of Syria's territorial integrity. The offensive was also condemned by the Western countries.
