Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister and Director for EU Affairs, Faruk Kaymakci, was a guest on N1’s programme on Sunday, where he spoke about the military operation Turkey launched in Syria this October, and also criticised European Parliament’s (EP) reactions to the country’s activities in Syria.

“(Operation Peace Spring) is a huge success, not only Turkey but Syrians, Syria, and our allies of NATO and Europe. We have all won because this operation is for peace, and to make Turkey’s, but not only Turkey’s but Europe’s And NATO’s borders safe and secure. It enables Syrians to go back to their own homes and towns, but also to get rid of Daesh (ISIS) entirely, get rid of PYD/YPG terrorist organisation,” Kaymakci said.

According to Kaymakci, one of the goals of the operation was to return Syrian refugees back to their homes. Asked whether the people will want to return to the area under Assad’s control, he said that area will not be under Assad’s control, but instead the safe zone would be controlled by the local people themselves.

“We have already had two operations, Operation Euphrates’ Shield and Operation Olive Branch. Thanks to these two operations we have cleared 4,000 square kilometres in the western Euphrates area in the north of Syria, and 365,000 Syrians have already returned to this area. They have returned voluntarily back to their homes from Turkey.”

On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution asking for sanctions for Turkey.

The press release from the EP said MEPs had warned that Turkey’s intervention in northeast Syria is a grave violation of international law, undermining the stability and security of the region as a whole.

“The European Parliament is very far from reality. EP talks, EP doesn’t see what’s going on on the ground. They have not reacted when the whole of Mosul was destroyed, when Raqqa was entirely destroyed, when thousands of civilians had been killed by bombardments of the coalition,” Kaymakci said, adding that Turkey’s actions were in line with international law.

“Turkey is acting in accordance with the Article 51 of the UN Charter, we also have an agreement with Syria, from Adana, which allows Turkey to intervene when there is a terrorist attack from the Syrian side of the border,” he said. “The EP has adopted thousands of resolutions which are not respected, which are not taken into account. Because EP is under the lobbying influence of some circles, EP is not interested in reality.”

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