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President and Justice and Development Party (AKP) Chair Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said that “an international anti-terror operation” is needed to be launched into Idlib, however, Syrian President Bashar al Assad’s Idlib policy is wrong.
Writing an article titled “The World Must Stop Assad” for Wall Street Journal, Erdoğan briefly said:
“Millions of people have become refugee”
“Assad regime has been targeting Syrian citizens with arbitrary detentions, systematic torture, summary executions, barrel bombs, chemical and conventional weapons for seven years.
“As a result of the Syrian civil war, which the United Nations Human Rights Council calls ‘the worst man-made disaster since World War II’, millions of innocent people have become refugees or have been internally displaced”.
“We are hosting 3.5 million people”
“Turkey hosts the largest number of refugees in the world, at 3.5 million. Despite being the target of terror groups Daesh (ISIS) and the PKK, Turkey did not lose its resolve to help Syrians.
"We have brought the Syrian opposition to the negotiating table in Geneva and launched the Astana process alongside Russia and Iran," he said, adding Turkey consequently managed “to broker ceasefires, create de-escalation zones and evacuate civilians from areas under regime attack”.
“Idlib is a safe haven for civilians”
“Assad regime is preparing to launch ‘a massive offensive against Idlib’ where some 3 million people live and is one of the few safe havens for internally displaced Syrians.
“"In an attempt to prevent the assault, my government contributed to the creation of a de-conflict zone and set up 12 observation posts to document and report ceasefire violations”.
“Assad is trying to legitimize the offensive”
Noting that Assad is trying to legitimize the planned Idlib offensive on counterterrorism grounds, he said, "Certain designated terrorist organizations, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, remain active in this area. Yet those fighters account for a fraction of Idlib's population.
“However, Assad’s solution is a fake one. People cannot be victimized under the cover of fighting terrorism. Such a step would only cause to create new nests for terrorism and extremism. (EKN/TK)
