Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country will not stop the military operation "spring of peace" in northeast Syria, amid the threats of European and US sanctions against Turkey.
"We will never stop the step we have taken against the PYD and the Syrian Kurdish YPG," Erdogan said in a speech on Friday in Istanbul.
He pointed out that Turkey receives threats from all sides and towards it says stop this progress, pointing out that the West is a double standard in terms of classification of terrorist organizations targeting his country.
Erdogan said the military operation was not aimed at the Kurds, "they are our brothers," but on terrorist organizations.
He said that peace, security and prosperity in this ancient region is the key to peace, stressing that the presence of Turkish forces in Syria is not to divide and divide it, but to protect the rights of all who live there.
For his part, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper today called on Ankara to stop military operations in northeast Syria, and said that the Turks showed no indication of their willingness to stop the attack.
Esber stressed that Washington "strongly opposes" the Turkish invasion of northern Syria, noting that his country will not abandon its Kurdish partners.
Meanwhile, US Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin said on Friday that President Donald Trump had authorized US officials to draft a new "very big" sanctions against Turkey, but added that such sanctions would not be implemented for the time being.
The statement said the decree aims to prevent Turkey from targeting civilians, civilian infrastructure and religious and ethnic minorities in Syria, as well as to ensure that it does not harm the activity of the SDF in the fight against terrorism.
The sanctions target individuals and entities in the Turkish government that violate human rights or are involved in practices that undermine peace, security and stability in northern Syria. The sanctions also affect those who deal with targeted Turkish individuals and entities.
"We hope we will not have to use them, but we can paralyze the Turkish economy if we want to," the statement added.
EU governments have threatened sanctions against Turkey for the "spring of peace" operation and have refused to warn the Turkish president that he will "open the doors" and send millions of refugees to Europe if they do not support him.
It is noteworthy that the Turkish army began last Wednesday a military operation called "spring of peace", with the aim of preventing the establishment of a "terrorist corridor" on its southern border, and to help millions of Syrian refugees living on Turkish territory to return to that region.