BERLIN
Norway on Tuesday criticized Turkey’s anti-terror operation in northeastern Syria, but dismissed calls for suspending Turkey from the NATO alliance.
“I think it’s better to have Turkey inside NATO than outside NATO,” Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a joint press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
“It’s important to have them into our family, and discussion. I think it’s easier to work with them that way,” she added.
Solberg expressed concern over the ongoing military operation’s conformity with international law and urged Ankara to cease the operations.
Turkey on Oct. 9 launched Operation Peace Spring to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist groups there, to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.
Ankara wants to clear northern Syria east of the Euphrates 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 deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
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