President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has denied claims that Operation Euphrates Shield slowed down due to Turkish warplanes being barred from Syrian airspace after the Assad regime threatened to shoot them down, adding that Turkish officials are in contact with Russia over the issue. During a reception held in honor of Turkish Republic Day Saturday, the president responded to questions about whether there is a problem with Turkish air support for the moderate forces in their offensive against terrorist organizations such as the PKK's Syrian offshoot the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and Daesh, saying, "Our officials are in contact with Russia. We warned them not to let [the PYD] pass east of Afrin, saying that we would intervene. Because they acted in accordance with this directive, we didn't have any reaction to the issue."

Some media outlets claimed that the Turkish Air Force halted airstrikes after striking PYD and Daesh positions on Oct. 22, also alleging that Syria has activated its air defense systems against Turkish warplanes entering Syrian airspace.Erdoğan also warned all parties about Hashd al-Shaabi militia's entering Tal Afar, saying, "Tal Afar is a very sensitive issue for us. We definitely do not regard it [the militia's involvement] in Tal Afar and Sinjar positively. I already conveyed this to officials quite clearly."The president also said that "Tal Afar is an entirely Turkmen city consisting of a population made up of half Shiite and half Sunni Muslims. We do not judge people by their religious affiliation, we consider them all Muslims.""But if the Hashd al-Shaabi were to terrorize the region, our response would be different."Ankara has repeatedly warned about the risk of sectarian conflict if Shiite militias are allowed to enter Sunni-majority Mosul. In other parts of Iraq liberated from Daesh, such as Fallujah and Ramadi, there have been allegations of Shiite fighters mistreating Sunni civilians.On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu underlined that Turkey will "take all precautionary measures allowed by international law" if the Hashd al-Shaabi threatens Turkey's security in Tal Afar.Before the Mosul operation began, Turkey gave repeated warnings about the possibility of further escalating tensions, including sectarian clashes and a new wave of refugees, if demographic sensitivities were not taken into consideration by the government in Baghdad.The Turkmen people have been oppressed ever since Daesh occupied Mosul and Tal Afar in 2014.Since the occupation began, the population in Tal Afar has plummeted from over a half a million to less than 50,000.