Mon 02 March 2020:
Funerals were held across Turkey for the soldiers martyred in the Thursday’s deadly attack in Idlib, a de-escalation zone in northwestern Syria, just across Turkey’s southern border.
The funerals which started on Saturday in many Turkish provinces also continued on Sunday in Samsun, Yozgat and Kutahya provinces, as well as in the capital city of Ankara.
Many Turkish state and high-ranking military officials along with thousands of citizens attended the funerals across the country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the First Lady Emine Erdogan on Sunday visited a family of a Turkish martyr in Istanbul, and offered their condolences.
Funeral prayers in absentia were also organized in many other Turkish provinces, as well as in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
People in various parts of Turkey also organized “respect for martyrs” marches.
Also, several Turkish soldiers wounded in the Idlib attack were brought to their homes in the Black Sea province of Zonguldak and central Nevsehir province, following their treatment in the southern Hatay province, bordering Syria.
Late Thursday, at least 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred and tens of others injured in an airstrike by Bashar al-Assad regime forces in Idlib, which is currently home to four million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-torn country.
The Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a September 2018 deal with Russia, which prohibits acts of aggression in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
Thursday’s attack was one of a series since January on Turkish troops, with Turkish officials keeping their pledge that such assaults would not go unanswered.
On Sunday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar announced his country has launched Operation Spring Shield in Syria’s Idlib in response to the recent regime attack on Turkish troops in the region.
Ali Erbas, the head of Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate, announced all the mosques in the country will say prayers and recite the verse Al-Fath (Victory, Conquest) of the Holy Quran in the morning prayer on Monday for the success of the Operation Spring Shield.
-Anadolu Agency
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