Berat Albayrak, Turkish energy minister and son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Sunday said Turkey is not de facto but officially at war in the Afrin region of Syria against not only terrorist organizations but also the forces behind them, Hürriyet reported.
“Turkey is now not de facto but officially at war. You see what happened in Afrin? Are we at war with some terrorist organizations or some marauders? You see who’s behind them, don’t you?” Albayrak said during a ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) meeting in the Zeytinburnu district of İstanbul.
Ankara has strongly criticized the US for supporting Kurdish groups in Syria.
The Turkish military and Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters on Jan. 20 launched Operation Olive Branch in the Afrin region of Syria against the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey sees as the Syrian extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
The Turkish military said on March 18 it had taken complete control of the Afrin town center.