By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s president said on Tuesday that it was time to counter the PKK terrorists from forming a corridor in northern Syria, along Turkey’s borders.
Speaking to his party's lawmakers on Tuesday, Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke of a possible Turkish army operation into the Afrin district of Syria’s Aleppo province.
“It is time to block the separatist terror group from forming a terror corridor along Syria, ” said Erdogan.
“We will complete this process by securing all our borders, ” he added, referring to a possible Afrin operation.
Any Afrin operation would follow on Turkey's successful seven-month Operation Euphrates Shield, which ended last March.
Erdogan also praised “the firm stand ” of the people of eastern Turkey during northern Iraq's Kurdish Regional Government's illegitimate referendum last September.
The illegal poll was condemned by the international community.
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — resumed its armed campaign against Turkey in July 2015.
Since then, it has been responsible for the deaths of more than 1,200 Turkish security personnel and civilians, including a number of women and children.
