Erdoğan: 800 terrorists neutralized since onset of Operation Olive Branch

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan evaluated the ongoing Operation Olive Branch as it entered its 13th day on Thursday.

“Since the onset of Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, 800 terrorists have been neutralized. This figure will increase by the evening,” said Erdoğan.

The president said Turkey was a nation that made a difference by standing beside the oppressed in the face of tyranny.

The Turkish Armed Forces destroyed 18 more terrorist targets in overnight airstrikes.

Operation Olive Branch was initiated on Jan. 20 in Afrin to establish security and stability, eliminate terrorists of PKK/KCK/PYD-YPG and Daesh, and save locals from the terrorists’ oppression and cruelty.

The operation is being carried out under the framework of Turkey’s rights based on international law, UN Security Council resolutions, its self-defense rights under the UN charter, and respect for Syria's territorial integrity.

The military said it is putting the "utmost importance" on not harming any civilians.

Afrin has been a major hideout for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK)’s Syrian offshoot, the Democratic Union Party (PYD), since July 2012, when the Assad regime in Syria left the city to the terror group without putting up a fight.

Cross-border attacks by the PYD/PKK terror group in southern Turkey started as the Turkish army operation in Syria’s northwestern town of Afrin continues.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the European Union and the United States. The PKK has been conducting armed violence in the southeastern part of Turkey since 1984. More than 40,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the three-decade long conflict.