Turkey is working with the UN to peacefully resolve the conflict with Syria, but reserves the right to self-defense, said on Thursday Permanent Representative of Turkey to the UN Feridun Sinirlioglu, speaking at UN Security Council.

He said that "on 3 February, a “clique in Damascus” targeted Turkish forces, leading to the deaths of seven Turkish soldiers and one civilian.  Turkey’s armed forces retaliated in self-defence, he said, recalling that these servicemen are in Idlib as part of the 2018 memorandum signed by Turkey and the Russian Federation to preserve Idlib’s status as a de-escalation area.  All deployments of Turkey’s armed forces have been coordinated with Russian authorities.  Yet, despite Turkey’s notifications, the regime opened fire on its positions, and today, some observation posts remain encircled by regime fighters.  As such, Turkey was forced to deploy more troops," the UN press service reported.

According to him, "terror groups established their own states on Syria’s territory.  The tyrant now wants to pull Turkey into his “dirty war” by targeting Turkey’s forces.  Emphasizing that Turkey believes in a political solution and works with the United Nations, in line with resolution 2254 (2015), he said that any military aggression against Turkey’s security or its citizens will be severely punished.  He urged the regime to withdraw from its positions until the end of February, outlining the expectation that responsible members of the international community will respect Turkey’s legitimate security concerns."