President of Turkey calls on Kurdish militants to give up the battle and retreat

16:43, 16.10.2019

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that the only option for Kurdish militants in Syria was to give up the battle and retreat.

“Our proposal is that right now, tonight, all the terrorists lay down their arms, their equipment and everything, destroy all their traps and get out of the safe zone that we have designated,” he said, adding that this would be “the quickest way of solving the problem in Syria.”

Erdogan made the comments in Parliament amid pressure for him to call a ceasefire and halt Turkey’s incursion into Syria, now in its eighth day.

Ankara’s assault against Kurdish forces has prompted a chorus of international condemnation, as reported by The Times of Israel.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says the offensive aims to remove the Kurdish-led forces from the border area and create a “safe zone” to which millions of Syrian refugees can be returned.

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Kurdish militants

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan