Turkish parties vehemently condemn Idlib attack on troops

ANKARA

Turkish political parties on Friday vehemently condemned the Thursday’s airstrike carried out by the Syrian regime which martyred 33 Turkish soldiers.

"As the political parties in the Turkish Grand National Assembly [...] we strongly and vehemently condemn this dastardly and atrocious attack," the parties said in a statement.

The political parties that signed the statement included the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party, and opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and IYI (Good) Party.

"We state that the solution [to the Syria crisis] should be through political means based on international law, in order to prevent the humanitarian crisis in the region," the statement said.

Turkish army will successfully carry out the tasks, assigned to it by the Turkish Garand National Assembly, it added.

Late Thursday, at least 33 Turkish soldiers were martyred and dozens of others injured in an airstrike by Assad regime forces in the Idlib, Syria de-escalation zone, just across Turkey’s southern border.

The Turkish soldiers are working to protect local civilians under a September 2018 deal with Russia under which acts of aggression are prohibited in the region.

But more than 1,300 civilians have been killed in attacks by Assad and Russian forces in the zone since then, as the cease-fire continues to be violated.

Thursday’s attack was one of a series since January on Turkish troops, with Turkish officials keeping their pledge that such assaults would not go unanswered.

The de-escalation zone is currently home to 4 million civilians, including hundreds of thousands displaced in recent years by regime forces throughout the war-torn country.

More than 1.7 million Syrians have moved near the Turkish border due to intense attacks.

Since the eruption of the bloody civil war in Syria in 2011, Turkey has taken in some 3.7 million Syrians who fled their country, making it the world’s top refugee-hosting country.