President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan asserted that the Free Syrian Army (FSA) is a national organization comprised of every ethnicity in Syria that defends their land against the PKK's Syrian affiliate the Democratic Union Party's (PYD) People's Protection Units (YPG) militia.
Addressing the parliamentary group meeting of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party), President Erdoğan, as the AK Party chairman, said that the FSA is defending their own land and it is not a terrorist group. He maintained that the people who call the FSA a terrorist group should sit down and think.
"It should be seen how vicious it is to assume those waging a war to defend their soil [with the Turkish military] in such a way. The FSA continues to heroically carry out their struggle in Operation Olive Branch despite having 16 martyrs and 100 injured."
Likening the Free Syrian Army to the national forces that fought the Turkish War of Independence, Erdoğan said that FSA elements gathered to defend their land.
There has been recent criticism and a smear campaign from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) directed at the FSA. CHP Deputy Chairman Öztürk Yılmaz last week contended that all FSA fighters were allegedly with al-Qaida.In addition, CHP Istanbul Deputy Eren Erdem called FSA elements a "pack of dogs." Furthermore, CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu uttered that the Turkish military was hiding behind the FSA in Operation Olive Branch.
Such recent statements from the CHP drew ire from the public. The CHP had kept silent on Operation Euphrates Shield, which Turkey launched against Daesh in collaboration with the FSA in August 2016, but it has voiced discontent with the current operation targeting the YPG.
Erdoğan called out the CHP saying that "real CHP members who love their country feel the same as us." The president said that although he would prefer not to bring the CHP to the agenda, "when they do and say such things that we cannot keep silent."
He emphasized that the Turkish military and FSA fighters have been continuing the struggle for the sake of the oppressed and innocent.
"We put up a fight not only for the rights of our country, but for the rights of our neighbors, the innocent and suffering. We do not have an eye on anybody's territory. We will not stop until our Syrian brothers and sisters return home safely," he said.
Erdoğan continued that Ankara is very well aware of how Arabs, Kurds and Turkmens have been struggling in Syria for their compatriots for the past seven years and the CHP does not know this, contending that the party only spreads other people's speculations.
The president also said that many Syrians have gathered at military admission centers to volunteer for Operation Olive Branch."We also know that our Syrian brothers in our country flocked to the military branches [admission centers] at the beginning of Operation Olive Branch and applied to go to the region," he said. "Just like our own citizens, our Syrian brothers see their application as a statement of determination. I thank all of you."
Turkey launched Operation Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear the YPG from Afrin in northwestern Syria. According to the Turkish General Staff, the operation aims to establish security and stability along Turkey's southern border and the region as well as to protect the Syrian people from the oppression and cruelty of terrorists.