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Turkey can’t launch military operation in Raqqa on its own

Türkiye Materials 8 September 2016 19:05 (UTC +04:00)
Turkey can’t launch a military operation in Syria’s Raqqa on its own.
Turkey can’t launch military operation in Raqqa on its own

Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 8

By Rufiz Hafizoglu – Trend:

Turkey can’t launch a military operation in Syria’s Raqqa on its own, Anadolu Agency quoted Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu as saying Sept. 8.

From the very beginning, Ankara has stated that it is impossible to eliminate terrorists only by air strikes, without a ground support, added the foreign minister.

Cavusoglu pointed out that Raqqa is the main stronghold of the “Islamic State” (IS, aka ISIS, ISIL or Daesh) terrorist group in Syria.

“As long as that city is not clean from the IS, the terrorist organization will continue to exist both in Syria and Iraq,” he added.

Earlier, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey can expand the scope of military operations in Syria and Iraq.

He pointed out that a new military operation can start in Raqqa, which is the “capital” of IS militants.

Erdogan said it is not ruled out that Turkish armed forces can take part in the operation for liberating Iraq’s Mosul.

He said Turkey has intelligence reports that the militants, who plan to exterminate the Turkomans living in Iraq’s north, have concentrated in northern Mosul and Iraqi city of Tal Afar, adding that this is inadmissible for Turkey.

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