Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad used his turn to speak at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Baku to reiterate the importance of withdrawing Turkish forces from Syria and preserving Syria's sovereignty
BAKU (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th October, 2019) Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad used his turn to speak at the Non-Aligned Movement Summit in Baku to reiterate the importance of withdrawing Turkish forces from Syria and preserving Syria's sovereignty."From this platform, my country would like to stress the importance of preserving the sovereignty of Syria and repelling the Turkish attacks with all legitimate means, and [the importance] of liberating every grain of Syrian sand by expelling any illegitimate foreign presence from its territories," Mekdad said at a roundtable on Saturday.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria on October 9 with the aim of targeting Kurdish fighters and the Islamic State terrorist group (banned in Russia). The Syrian authorities have condemned Turkey's move as occupation, while Russia, Syria's key ally, has warned that Turkey should avoid actions that could hamper the ongoing Syrian peace process.
"Attempts by the Turkish regime to set up safe zones in Syria without any respect to the international law and the principles of sovereignty and the principle of good neighborliness... are all condemned illegitimate unilateral actions that we reject," the diplomat added.
The United States and Turkey came to an agreement on October 17 for a 120-hour ceasefire in the area to allow the withdrawal of the Kurdish fighters.
As the five-day ceasefire came to an end, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin reached a deal late on Tuesday to pull the Kurdish fighters back and establish joint patrols in the operation zone in northeastern Syria along the Turkish border.
The 18th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization mostly made up of developing-country members that are not part of large scale military alliances such as NATO, is underway in Baku, Azerbaijan.
