Fri 11 October 2019:
The U.N. Security Council failed to agree on a statement on Turkey’s counterterrorism operation in Syria at a closed meeting to discuss the action Thursday.
The U.S. and Russia vetoed a statement by five European members — France, Germany, Belgium, Britain and Poland — condemning the operation.
The five European council members who called Thursday’s meeting — there are 15 member countries — urged Turkey in a joint statement afterward “to cease the unilateral military action.” They claimed the operation threatens progress against the Daesh terrorist group, despite one aim of the operation being to clear any remaining Daesh terrorists from the region.
Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia, whose country is a key ally of Syria’s Bashar Assad, told reporters that any council statement on Syria must address broader issues, including the presence of foreign forces in the country.
U.S. Ambassador Kelly Craft told reporters that President Donald Trump “has made abundantly clear” that the United States “has not in any way” endorsed Turkey’s decision to mount a military incursion in northeast Syria.
She told reporters the president has emphasized to Turkey’s government that it bears “full responsibility” for protecting Kurds and religious minorities, and for ensuring that Daesh terrorists remain in prison and the terrorist group doesn’t reconstitute itself.
Craft stressed that Turkey’s “failure to do so will have consequences.” She didn’t elaborate.
According to a press release by the Turkish National Defense Ministry, Akar told Parly in a phone call that the goal of the operation was to eliminate existing terrorist groups in the region, especially Daesh and the People’s Protection Units (YPG) east of the Euphrates River to establish a peace corridor to ensure Syrians living in Turkey can return to their homeland.
PKK a terrorist organization
The PKK — listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union — has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women, children and infants.
Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for nearly 400,000 Syrians who fled the violence to return home.
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