Turkey accuses US of not telling truth to Congress, people on Syria

The U.S. administration is not telling the truth while sending letters to Congress or informing its people, Turkey's foreign minister said on Oct. 9 in response to Washington's decision to extend the national emergency executive order in Syria.

"Instead of blaming Turkey, the US should abandon its own wrong policies, and should be more honest with the American people and its Congress," Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said in a joint news conference with his visiting Venezuelan counterpart Felix Plasencia.

The U.S. on Thursday extended the state of emergency decree issued in 2019 for another year, claiming that Turkey's activities in Syria pose a threat to national security.

In 2019, then President Donald Trump had withdrawn most of the U.S. troops in the region from Syria before Turkey's anti-terror operation.

Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful anti-terror operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield (2016), Olive Branch (2018), and Peace Spring (2019).

Çavuşoğlu, who described the letter as a "copy-paste," said the U.S. administration had previously used the same sentences.

"The reason for this is the U.S.' cooperation with the YPG terrorist organization, which the U.S. takes very seriously," he asserted.

"We know very well that the purpose of being here is not to fight against Daesh (ISIL terror group)," he stated, emphasizing that this position is illegal under U.S. law. "We have fought against Daesh. The only army that is fighting against it is our army in NATO and the world."

Around 4,000 terrorists have been killed as a result of this struggle, he said and added that Turkey is supporting...