Fahrettin Altun said that Turkey was pursuing a relentless campaign against all terror groups along its border with and inside Syria with the goal of creating safe zones free of terror regardless of its origin.

"We will continue to do so even if we do not receive proper recognition of our efforts," Altun noted, and continued:

"Turkey’s operation to root out terror groups from its Syrian border can’t be linked to potential strengthening of Daesh. Such a misguided argument ignores Turkey’s legitimate national security interests.

Those who insist on ignoring our legitimate security concerns have no right to criticize Turkey’s counter-terrorism operations. They should reconsider their own support for terror groups. It is not befitting of a NATO ally to call a terror group “best partners” against Daesh." (ILKHA)