Provocative and irreverent Cavusoglu: ‘We never ask for permission’ before launching a military operation in Syria

Turkey “never asks permission” from anyone before launching a military operation in Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu warned today, effectively responding to statements made by the Syrian foreign minister.

“We may exchange ideas, but we have never asked and we will never ask for permission for our military operations against terrorism,” he said.

During the trilateral summit meeting with Iran and Russia on Tuesday in Tehran, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, who has been threatening a Turkish military operation in Syria since May, said he was counting on “the support of Russia and Iran in fight against terrorism”.

But his two counterparts issued a clear warning against any operation in northeastern Syria, which would be dangerous for the region.

Cavusoglu recalled that Turkey “suspended” its operations in eastern Syria in October 2019, “after the promises of the US and Russia”.

An agreement signed under the auspices of Washington and Moscow stipulated the withdrawal of Kurdish forces within 30 kilometers of the Turkish border.

“But these promises were not kept. Attacks against Syrian dissidents and our soldiers have increased,” the Turkish foreign minister said.

“What would the United States do in our position? What would Russia do? What does it say to justify its invasion of Ukraine? That there was a threat against it.”

“We denounced Russia’s attack on Ukraine from the beginning. But there are attacks against us from this zone” of northeastern Syria, Cavusoglu insisted.

Since 2016, Turkey has launched three large-scale military offensives in Syria on its southern border against Kurdish armed groups and one attack in early 2020 against the Syrian regime.

Part of northern Syria is controlled by the forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), a Kurdish armed group that Ankara considers to be a wing of the PKK.