ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Friday to protect Turkiye’s southern border with a “safe zone” in Syria after Ankara launched a barrage of air strikes against Kurdish fighters.

Erdogan has long sought to build a “safe zone” with a depth of 30 kilometres inside Syria and repeatedly threatened this year to start a new military operation to achieve this goal. Turkiye’s military has conducted three offensives against Kurdish fighters and militants since 2016 and already captured territory in northern Syria, held by Ankara-backed Syrian proxies.

“With the security (zone) we are establishing on the other side of our border, we are also protecting the rights of millions of women and children,” Erdogan said during a televised speech to mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Published in Dawn, November 26th, 2022