Syrian opposition backs Turkey's Afrin plan

By Muhammed Seyh Yusuf and Said Ibicioglu

ISTANBUL

The Syrian opposition supports Turkey's plans to move against the PYD/PKK terrorist group, a top opposition official told Anadolu Agency on Thursday.

Abdurrahman Mustafa, the deputy chair of the National Coalition of Syrian Opposition and Revolutionary Forces, said Afrin -- a border Syrian town presently under control of terrorist PYD/PKK -- must be rescued from the terrorists as soon as possible.

"We support Turkey's plans against this separatist organization," Mustafa said.

He pointed out that areas like Afrin should have been freed before.

"As we did during the Euphrates Shield, we are again ready for cooperation with Turkey," he said, referring to a successful Turkish-led operation against Daesh, which ended in March 2017.

Mustafa added that they would offer Turkey help to rid Afrin and other regions of the PYD/PKK.

The PYD/PKK is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK terrorist group, which has been designated a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. the EU.

Since the mid-1980s, the PKK has waged a wide-ranging terror campaign against the Turkish state in which an estimated 40,000 people have been killed.