The Kremlin is waiting for clarification of Erdogan’s statement about the purpose of Turkish military operations in Syria – statement

Press Secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov said that the Kremlin is waiting for clarification from the Turkish authorities concerning the application of the President of this country Recep Tayyip Erdogan that the Turkish military operation in Syria is to overthrow President Ba shar al-Assad.

“Statement really was news, this is a very serious statement, which is generally discordant with the previous one, and the statement, which is discordant with our understanding of the situation. With our state’s Armed forces which – only – are the legitimate regime in Syria, that is, at the request of the legitimate authorities”, – said Peskov.

He stressed that “it is important to remember” that the only country which carries out the operation in Syria is legitimate, and that is Russia. Peskov said that the Russian side is waiting for clarification from the Turkish partners. He also said that during the recent telephone conversations Erdogan no representations as to the objectives of the Turkish operation in Syria did not.

Previously a number of media quoted Erdogan during his speech in Istanbul at the Symposium on the middle East that Istanbul has views of the Syrian territory and launched a military operation in Northern Syria to end the Assad government. “We are there to restore justice and to put an end to the domination of a cruel tyrant Assad, who gave the country a terror state”, – quotes the words of the President “RIA Novosti”.

the Official representative of Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova said that Moscow relies on public statements by the Turkish President words about Bashar al-Assad said “off the record”.

“yesterday We studied the issue. The quote made a lot of noise, – said Zakharov. We tried to understand whether it was said, as quoted. It was not a direct quote, paraphrase stated “off the record”. We rely on public statements,” – said Zakharov.

Since the end of August, the Turkish military carried out in the Syrian operation “shield of the Euphrates” against the terrorist group “Islamic state” (IG, is prohibited in Russia). Thanks to the participation of the Syrian opposition, the Turkish military was able to take the border town Dzharablus in the North of Syria. Now they continue the offensive in a South-westerly direction.