Turkey vows to retaliate for any border violation

By Kurbani Geyik

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Ministry vowed Wednesday to retaliate for any border violation, hours after Turkish army launched a cross-border operation in Syria in response to terrorist attacks on Turkish soil and artillery fire by Daesh militants in Syria on targets inside Turkey.
“Turkish Armed Forces have launched an operation to protect the lives and properties of our citizens and prevent border violations following rocket attacks against Gaziantep’s Karkamis district on August 23,” the Prime Ministry said in a statement on the “Operation Euphrates Shield”.
The statement said that the operation in Syria started at 4.00 a.m. local time (0100 GMT) with the Turkish army retaliating with artillery fire against pre-determined Daesh targets.
It said 81 Daesh targets were neutralized in the Syrian border city of Jarabulus and its suburbs.
“As of 8.16 a.m. (0516 GMT) 294 rounds of artillery fire were fired,” the statement said, adding that between 6.08 a.m. (0308 GMT) and 7.50 a.m. (0450 GMT) Turkish F-16 fighter jets hit “12 objectives in Jarabulus”. “We will retaliate for such border violations and incidents threatening the lives and property of our people,” the Prime Ministry said.