Turkish military to withdraw from Afrin when Syrian crisis is settled – deputy PM Bozdag

YEREVAN, APRIL 10, ARMENPRESS. The Turkish military will withdraw from Afrin when the Syrian crisis will be settled politically, Turkish Deputy PM Bekir Bozdag said.

“We came here not as conquerors and we don’t plan to remain here – respecting the territorial integrity of Syria. We cleared Afrin from terrorists, we are now continuing de-mining works. There is a power vacuum in Syria now, there are different forces, the opposition. We will give the authority I Afrin to the local people, who themselves will settle their life. Now the important thing is to find a political solution to the crisis, and when this happens, we will leave Afrin,” he said.

He added that it is impossible to solve the Syrian crisis militarily.

Russia earlier said it hopes that Turkey will return control over Afrin to the Syrian government.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has never said that Turkey wants to capture Afrin”, Bozdag added.

English –translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan