ANKARA
Turkey on Saturday strongly condemned Arab League’s chief for leveling allegations against the country’s ongoing Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River.
In a statement, Hami Aksoy, the ministry spokesman, said that Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit becomes a partner in crimes of terrorists and he betrayed the Arab world by accusing Turkey.
In his remarks at the Arab League meeting in Cairo, Aboul-Gheit had described the ongoing Turkish operation east of Euphrates as a “military invasion.”
Aksoy said Arab league criticized Turkey rather than a terrorist organization which tried to target the territorial integrity of Syria.
Turkish Communications Director Fahrettin Altun also condemned the remarks.
“I strongly condemn the Arab League for mischaracterizing Turkey’s counter-terrorism operation in northeastern Syria as an “invasion” in a statement issued earlier today,” Altun said on Twitter.
Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Peace Spring in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorists there and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.
Ankara wants to clear the region east of the Euphrates River of the terrorist PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
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