Alwaght- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Ankara’s NATO allies, and indirectly pointed to the US, for providing massive military support to Kurdish YPG in Syria.
In a speech to his ruling AK Party, Erdogan said that ‘some allies’ of Turkey had provided the Syrian Kurdish militia YPG with 2,000 planeloads and 5,000 truckloads of weapons.
“Now, apart from 5,000 trucks, there are weapons and ammunition from around 2,000 planes.” the Turkish leader said. 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.
“Now, apart from 5,000 trucks, there are weapons and ammunition from around 2,000 planes,” the Turkish leader said.
Erdogan 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.
This weekend, Turkey began operation ‘Olive Branch’ against Kurdish forces in Syria's northern region of Afrin, deploying jets and land forces.
Turkey sees the YPG as being closely linked to the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) – whom the government considers terrorists. The United States is backing the YPG in Syria, by claiming the group is a partner in its so-called war on terror.
Turkey's incursion into Afrin has also drawn fierce criticism from Syrian leaders.
President Bashar al-Assad slammed on Sunday Turkey's so-called Olive Branch operation Brital aggression as well as as support for terrorist groups.
“The brutal Turkish aggression on the Syrian town of Afrin cannot be separated from the Turkish regime's policy from the first day of Syria's crisis, which was essentially built on supporting terrorism and terrorist organizations, whatever their names,” president Assad said in statements carried by Syria's official news agency SANA.
The Syrian government had earlier condemned the “brutal Turkish aggression” against Afrin, rejecting Ankara’s claim about having informed Damascus of the operation.
Damascus "strongly condemns the brutal Turkish aggression on Afrin, which is an inseparable part of Syrian territory," official news agency SANA cited a Syrian foreign ministry source as saying on Saturday.
"Syria completely denies claims by the Turkish regime that it was informed of this military operation," the source added.
