Turkey's parliament speaker hails Afrin operation

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA

Turkish parliament's speaker on Saturday hailed the launch of military operation in Syria’s Afrin region, according to a statement released by his office.

Ismail Kahraman hoped the “Operation Olive Branch”, which was launched by Turkish Armed forces to protect Turkey's border security and prevent the formation of a terror corridor on the country’s southern borders, will conclude successfully, the statement said.

"Terrorist groups and terrorists are the only target of the operation, which was launched as a right of self-defense of our state and is in compliance with the international law," Kahraman said.

He also prayed to God for the Turkish army’s success in the operation.

Turkey has started “Operation Olive Branch" on Saturday at 5 p.m. [1400GMT] in Afrin to “eliminate terrorists of PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh, and to protect the friendly and brotherly people of the region from their [the terrorists’] oppression and cruelty".

The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU.

Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.

More than 1,200 security personnel have been martyred since July 2015 when the group resumed its armed campaign against the Turkish state following a fragile cease-fire.