- Hello, EU, wake up. I say it again: If you try to describe our operation there as an invasion, you make it easy for us: Then we open the gates and send 3.6 million migrants to you, the Turkish president said in a speech on Thursday in the capital Anchor.
The backdrop is the European countries' strong criticism of Turkey's military offensive against the Kurdish-controlled northeastern Syria that began on Wednesday. Erdogan defends the operation in Syria since it was met by an international storm of criticism.
"They are not honest, they just chatter on," he says of the country's critics, pointing especially to Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The effort, the president argues, will ensure Syria's territorial integrity by confronting the Kurds in northeastern Syria.
This article will be updated