Turkish President Accuses Allies of Sending 'Thousands of Planeloads', 'Truckloads of Arms' to Kurds

TEHRAN (defapress)- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan turned on Ankara’s allies, insinuating that the US in particular has been providing massive military support to Kurdish fighters in Syria.

News ID: 68217

Date: 22 January 2018 - 13:45

In a speech to his ruling AK Party Erdogan said that some allies of Turkey had provided Syrian Kurdish militia with 2,000 planeloads and 5,000 truckloads of weapons, World News reported.

“Now, apart from 5,000 trucks, there are weapons and ammunition from around 2,000 planes.” the Turkish leader added.

He also accused Ankara’s allies of dishonesty when they say that they do not provide weapons for “terrorists,” referring to Kurdish-linked YPG forces.

The President also vowed to hand over Afrin to its “real owners,” explaining that he aims to return 3.5 million refugees back to Syria from Turkey as soon as possible.

Erdogan had said the ongoing Operation Olive Branch in Syria's Afrin will be completed "in very short time", adding that "Terrorists are fleeing from there and we will chase them. Our aircraft are bombing them and the ground operation has started. We are conducting the operation to protect our borders."

Ankara has launched a new air and ground operation around the area of Afrin in Syria to oust the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which Ankara views as a terror organization and the Syrian branch of the outlawed Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK).

Ankara opened a new front in Syria’s nearly seven-year-old war on Saturday, launching airstrikes against Kurdish fighters in Afrin in Aleppo province.

According to reports, Turkish tanks are supporting the Free Syrian Army’s ground offensive on Kurdish positions in Syria’s Afrin region, as operation "Olive Branch" has started.

The Syrian government has condemned the “brutal Turkish aggression” against the Kurdish-controlled enclave of Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation.

The Damascus government had also made clear to Ankara that it considers Turkey’s military presence on its territory as a violation of its sovereignty, and warned that it will shoot down Turkish bombers in Syrian airspace.

Washington also continues providing Kurdish fighters with more military hardware in Syria despite US President Donald Trump's promise to his Turkish counterpart to halt arms shipment to the Kurdish fighters.

Ankara said late November 2017 that US President Donald Trump told Tukey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that he had issued instructions that weapons should not be provided to Kurdish fighters in Syria.

According to reports, the US plans to keep its troops in Syria long after the defeat of ISIL. Washington has been justifying its deployment of ground troops in Syria, which violates the embattled nation’s sovereignty, by citing the need to fight ISIL.