Azerbaijan officially backs Turkey’s military operation in Syria
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Turkish soldiers stand on top of tanks in a village on the Turkish-Syrian border in Gaziantep province, Turkey. 22 January 2018. REUTERS/Osman Orsal
“Azerbaijan fully understands Turkey’s justified security concerns in connection with the terrorist threats,” Hikmet Hajiyev, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign (MFA) of Azerbaijan said when commenting on the Turkish Armed Forces’ operation in Syria.
He added that earlier Turkey had become a target of terrorist attacks on a number of occasions, which resulted in the deaths of many innocent people.
“We wish that brotherly Turkey would never be subjected to treacherous terrorist attacks again,” said Hajiyev.
On 21 January Turkey launched a military operation codenamed ‘Olive Branch’ and advanced 8 kilometers into neighboring Syria (Afrin Province).
The units of the Kurdish ‘self-defence forces’ are Turkey’s number-one enemy. The officials in Ankara believe that the aforesaid militant group is linked to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been designated by Turkey, USA and EU as a terrorist group. A total of 6 500 Turkish servicemen are involved in the military operation.
USA and Iran condemned Turkey’s military operation in Syria. Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia said in turn that ‘Turkey was infuriated by the USA’s unilateral actions in Syria.’