The American public has a right to know the truth about Turkey's anti-terror operation in northern Syria amid a wave of misinformation, presidential adviser Gülnur Aybet said.
"There's a lot of lies and misinformation about what we are trying to do (in northern Syria). President (Donald) Trump is absolutely right in wanting to bring home U.S. troops, because it's very unfair that they're hostage to this very ill-begotten policy inherited from the previous administration that is arming one terrorist group, the (People's Protection Units) YPG, to fight another," Aybet told Fox News in an interview.
She also said it was time for the U.S. to stop this policy as Ankara remains "very disappointed" over Washington's continued cooperation with the YPG terrorists outside the zone of the Turkish operation.
Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring, the third in a series of cross-border anti-terror operations in northern Syria targeting terrorists affiliated with Daesh and the PKK's Syrian offshoot the YPG, on Oct. 9 at 4 p.m.
The operation, conducted in line with the country's right to self-defense borne out of international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions, aims to establish a terror-free safe zone for Syrians return in the area east of the Euphrates River controlled by the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is dominated by YPG terrorists.
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.
Turkey has long decried the threat from terrorists east of the Euphrates in northern Syria, pledging military action to prevent the formation of a "terrorist corridor" there.
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.
