Erdoğan: "We expect NATO allies to combat terror groups"

Erdoğan: "We expect NATO allies to combat terror groups"
# 06 May 2019 17:51 (UTC +04:00)

Ankara's sole expectation from its NATO allies is that they act in accordance with the spirit of the alliance, particularly against terrorist groups threatening Turkey, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Monday at the NATO meeting of the North Atlantic Council with the Mediterranean Dialogue (MD) partners in Ankara, ONA reports citing Daily Sabah.

Erdoğan underlined that Turkey was the only NATO country to engage in direct combat with Daesh terrorists in Syria.

"In Idlib, which was on the verge of a great humanitarian catastrophe, we took the initiative to ensure peace. We thereby prevented the deaths of hundreds of thousands of innocent Syrians and prevented irregular migration flow which would have shaken Europe deeply," Erdoğan said.

"We have ensured the return of 320,000 Syrian refugees to the safe zones we freed of terror," he added.

"We expect our friends in NATO to act only in accordance with the spirit of the alliance and to hold the alliance's founding values," the president said, referencing the fight against terror groups which threaten Turkey's security.

These terror groups include the PKK's Syrian affiliate the People's Protection Units (YPG), with which the United States has partnered in its fight against Daesh, supplying the terror group with weapons and support.

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