Turkey will withdraw its forces from Afrin: Deputy Prime Minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan 24) – Turkey will not remain in the Afrin region and will withdraw its forces from the Syrian border area leaving it to its “real owners,” Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister said on Monday.

Turkish forces and Syrian rebel allies overtook the Kurdish-held enclave of Afrin in Syrian Kurdistan on Sunday where they declared full control following a nearly two-month long offensive against the People’s Protection Units (YPG).

“We are not permanent there [in Afrin], and we are certainly not invaders,” Bekir Bozdag, Turkey’s Deputy Prime Minister, was quoted by Reuters.

“Our goal is to hand the region back to its real owners after clearing it of terrorists,” he added.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had uttered similar remarks during the military operation, claiming the area belonged to Arabs and his army would give it “back to its rightful owners.”

Ankara, who launched its military incursion into Afrin on Jan. 20, claimed the operation was meant to secure its borders of YPG forces which it argues are an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), thus “terrorists.”

The United States, who has supported and armed the Kurdish forces in the ongoing battle against the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, had not openly voiced its defense of the YPG but called on Turkey to limit its offensive during the eight-week campaign.

Bozdag also claimed Turkey had collected “most” of the weapons Washington had provided the YPG after the Kurdish forces allegedly withdrew from the area.

The intense offensive in Afrin led to the deaths of over 200 civilians, including women and children, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands of people.