Turkey condemns Portuguese parliament’s statement on Afrin operation

ANKARA

Ankara on March 30 condemned a statement from the Portuguese parliament criticizing the recent Turkish military-led “Operation Olive Branch” in the northwestern Syrian district of Afrin.

“It is regrettable that the Portuguese Parliament has allowed itself to become an instrument for a terrorist organization’s propaganda. Evidently written in ideological blindness detached from reality, this statement will have no other effect than tarnishing the reputation of the Portuguese parliament,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The baseless nature of the allegations of the terrorist organization’s black propaganda are being exposed one by one. We invite the Portuguese Parliament, which appears to be ignorant of these facts, to support our country’s efforts in fighting terrorism and to display solidarity with our country against terrorism instead of supporting terrorism by giving credit to disinformation activities targeting Turkey,” the statement added.

On Jan. 20, Turkey launched the operation with elements of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) to clear Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) militants from Afrin.