Turkey dubs securing of Afrin town center 'significant'

ANKARA

Presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on Sunday dubbed "significant" the clearing of YPG/PKK-Daesh terrorists from Afrin’s town center through Operation Olive Branch.

“The message to terrorist organizations and to the whole world is clear: Turkey will continue to move forward with steady steps on the path of trust, stability, and justice,” Kalin said in a message posted on Twitter.

“The spirit of March 18 Canakkale [battle] is still standing upright 103 years later,” he said, referring to Canakkale Victory and Martyrs’ Day.

The Battle of Canakkale, which took place in the province's Gelibolu (Gallipoli) district in 1915, marked a turnaround in favor of the Turks against the Allied forces during World War I.

Kalin said Turkish President and commander-in-chief Recep Tayyip Erdogan led the Operation Olive Branch in Afrin. “Security and humanitarian aid operations are still in progress [in Afrin],” he added.

Separately, the deputy prime minister and government spokesman, Bekir Bozdag, on Sunday commended the Turkish Army over its success in the Afrin operation.

He said via a Twitter message that other countries and armies that wish to combat against terror groups and clear residential areas from terrorists without harming civilians or destroying places of worship, schools, hospitals or houses, must take Turkey and the Turkish army as an example.

Earlier on Sunday, Erdogan announced that Turkish Armed Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) had taken complete control of northwestern Syria's Afrin town center.

“Afrin town center was completely taken control of at 8.30 a.m.," Erdogan added.

Turkey on Jan. 20 launched Operation Olive Branch to remove PYD/PKK and Daesh terrorists from Afrin.

According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey's borders and the region as well as protect Syrians from terrorist cruelty and oppression.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity, it said.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the PYD/PKK since July 2012, when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without a fight.