GENEVA
UN is prepared for “very close” coordination with Turkey on a possible military operation in northern Syria, an official said Monday.
“We would coordinate with Turkey very closely, we are ready for that, to make sure that there is good communication,” Panos Moumtzis, UN assistant secretary general and regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syria crisis, told Anadolu Agency.
Moumtzis said he was in Ankara “a couple of weeks ago” and Turkey has provided “very good reassurances” to UN that humanitarian principles and values will be supported if an operation takes place.
He also said that Turkey has played “a very positive role” in supporting humanitarian operations for years and Turkey is the largest refugee hosting country.
“What I have seen with my own eyes in Turkey, people were respected and received with dignity. This, you cannot put any price on it,” he said, referring to Turkey’s treatment of refugees.
Moumtzis said the generosity shown by Turkey to refugees needs the continuity of international support.
” A lot more needs to be done, a lot more financial support…,” he added.
Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence to return home.
Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a “terrorist corridor” there.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU — has been responsible for the deaths of some 40,000 people, including women, children and infants. The YPG is the Syrian branch of the terrorist PKK.
- Writing by Fatih Hafiz Mehmet in Ankara.
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