Erdoğan: We will hit the regime forces anywhere if any harm comes to our troops

Speaking at AK Party's parliamentary group meeting, President said: "I hereby declare that, as of today, if any harm comes to our troops at the Observation Posts or anywhere else, we will hit the regime forces anywhere without limiting ourselves to Idlib and to the boundaries of the Sochi Memorandum. Anyone who targets Turkey must know that they will pay the price everywhere, not only on the site of the attack."

Wishing Allah’s mercy upon the Turkish soldiers, who died a martyr’s dead during the attack carried out in Idlib yesterday by the regime, and a speedy recovery to the wounded, Erdoğan noted that the regime as well as the Russian forces and Iran-backed militias, acting with the regime, are constantly attacking, massacring and shedding the blood of civilians in Idlib.

"We will no longer act by paying regarding to what has been said, but only at the facts on the field"

Underscoring that neither the promises given to Turkey are honored nor the memorandums are abided by, President Erdoğan stressed: "We are determined to push the regime out of the borders of the Sochi Memorandum - back behind our observation posts - by the end of February. To achieve that, we will do whatever is necessary on the ground and in the air without any hesitation and without allowing any stalling. We will not wait for the outcome of those endless meetings and will take steps to do whatever we need to do right now."

Erdoğan said: "Those, who keep talking about human rights, children, women and civilian concerns, have lapsed into a deep silence in the face of all these attacks. We also know well that some of the statements of concern about Idlib are driven not by respect for human life and dignity but by other motives. Turkey will not be a mere onlooker to this situation even if everyone turns a blind eye to, turns their backs on and puts their conscience on hold about it. Let me reiterate that most of the attacks carried out in Idlib by the regime and the Russians as well as by the forces, who act together with the regime, target directly civilians, not terrorists. The aim there is to empty the ground completely by forcing local people to move towards our borders in order to easily occupy the area."

"We will chase the regime forces out of the borders we have determined"

 Stating that the aircrafts that hit civilian residential areas in Idlib will no longer be able to move freely,  Erdoğan went on to say: "On the ground, we will chase the regime forces out of the borders we have determined. I hereby declare that, as of today, if any harm comes to our troops at the Observation Posts or anywhere else, we will hit the regime forces anywhere without limiting ourselves to Idlib and to the boundaries of the Sochi Memorandum. Anyone who targets Turkey must know that they will pay the price everywhere, not only on the site of the attack."

"It is our historical, moral and humanitarian responsibility to support the Syrian people’s fight to survive and protect their dignity, particularly in Idlib," Erdoğan said, and added: "Let me clearly note here that where the blood of Turkish soldiers is shed, no one is safe no matter how great they think they are. With the awareness that if we today abstain from engaging in struggle in Syria, we will have to do it on our lands tomorrow, we will exert all our power. It must not be forgotten that the Syrian people’s fight for freedom is also a struggle for permanence of 83 million citizens of the Republic of Turkey." (ILKHA)