ANKARA: Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said during a televised interview on Wednesday that Operation Euphrates Shield against the Daesh terror organization had come to an end.
“From now on, if we take action against Daesh or anything else that threatens our security, it will be a new operation,” Yıldırım stated, underlining that if needed a new move would be named differently.
Ankara launched Operation Euphrates Shield inside Syria in late August of last year with Turkey-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) forces and recaptured several towns near its border from Daesh, including Jarablus, al-Rai, Dabiq and al-Bab. The operation dealt a heavy blow to the terrorist group’s dominance in Syria.
Yıldırım also said that the United States should give a more satisfying answer regarding reports of its Istanbul consulate calling the mastermind behind the coup attempt Adil Öksüz.
The U.S. embassy previously confirmed that its Istanbul consulate placed a call to Öksüz, the fugitive mastermind of the July 15 coup attempt blamed on the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ), saying it was to inform him of a “visa cancellation.”
“As a direct result of close U.S.-Turkish law enforcement cooperation, a call from the U.S. Consulate General in Istanbul to a phone belonging to Adil Öksüz on July 21, 2016 did occur. On that day, the Turkish National Police called the U.S. Mission in Turkey to request our assistance in preventing Adil Öksüz from fleeing Turkey. We then revoked his U.S. visa and, as required by U.S. law, tried to call him to inform him of the cancellation,” a written statement released by the U.S. embassy in Ankara said.
