Erdogan extends condolences to martyr's family

ANKARA

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Saturday extended his condolences to the family of a baby boy who was martyred in southeast Turkey in a cross-border mortar attack by YPG/PKK terrorists.

“May God give you patience. We will not let his blood go in vain,” Erdogan said during a phone conversation with the baby boy’s family.

A nine-month-old baby, Muhammed Omar, lost his life after terror groups PKK/YPG fired mortar shells and rockets from Syria into Turkey’s southeastern Sanliurfa province on Thursday.

Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist elements and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.

Ankara wants to eliminate terrorist elements of the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG, from the region.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar.