Turkey remembers martyrs of Operation Euphrates Shield

ANKARA

The Turkish army and the National Defense Ministry remembered Friday the martyrs and veterans on the second anniversary of Operation Euphrates Shield.

Two years have passed since the Turkish army’s Joint Special Task Force and coalition air forces launched the operation to purge the terrorist threat emanating from northern Syria. The operation was successfully completed in seven months.

“We commemorate our martyrs and veterans with mercy and gratitude on the second anniversary of Operation Euphrates Shield,” the ministry and Turkish army said on their Twitter accounts.

Euphrates Shield cut off the PKK/PYD/YPG terror groups' access to the Mediterranean Sea and eliminated threats posed by the terrorist group along the Turkish-Syrian border.

In its 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK has taken some 40,000 lives. The terrorist PYD/YPG is the PKK's wing in Syria.

Operation Euphrates Shield, which began on Aug. 24, and ended in March 2017, was aimed at eliminating the terrorist threat along the border in the northern Syrian regions of Jarabulus, Al-Rai, Al-Bab, and Azaz with the use of the Free Syrian backed by Turkish artillery and air cover.

More than 3,000 terrorists were also neutralized in the operation.

Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.

As the operation ensured Turkey's border security, it also cleared members of the Daesh terrorist group as well as the PKK/PYD from northwestern Syria.

The operation also blocked a merger of the so-called cantons of the PKK/PYD/YPG terrorist groups along Turkey's border.

Moreover, following the Turkish-led operation, tens of thousands of displaced Syrians returned to their liberated hometowns.

Reporting by Sarp Ozer; Writing by Sena Guler