Baladi - Newspapers
It is completely inconceivable to return Afrin back to the control of the Syrian regime, Deputy Prime Minister Recep Akdağ said on Wednesday.
Speaking in an interview with German Die Welt yesterday, Minister Akdağ said that Turkey has two aims in Syria: security for Turkey, its borders as well as the Syrian people and a democratic environment in Syria with free elections and sustainable development.
"A free and democratic Syria can only be built without [Bashar] Assad. He has killed many of his fellow citizens and brought much suffering to his country," Akdağ said.
He underlined that Turkey does not want to settle in Afrin for the long term and its only goal is to defend Turkey's security in the fight against Kurdish terrorist groups like the PKK and its Syrian wing the People's Protection Units (YPG), and to return the area to the Syrian people as soon as possible.
Source: Daily Sabah