CBN – Turkey is in the sixth week of its violent campaign to establish a so-called “safe zone” in northeast Syria. But watchdog groups and eyewitnesses on the ground say Turkey has aspirations far beyond the war-torn country. Social media posts from Turkish-backed fighters and statements from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan himself reveal that Ankara appears to be on violent jihadist mission.

Erdogan told the international community he needs to create a safe zone in northern Syria to relocate millions of Syrian refugees there. The premier also said that “Operation Spring Peace” will eradicate Kurdish-led forces in the region, forces he regards as terrorists but the US sees as allies. The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) reports that Erdogan uses very different language when speaking to his Turkish troops and the Free Syrian Army jihadist mercenaries he has recruited for the fight.

MEMRI reports that on October 25, in a speech at the Çamlica Mosque in Istanbul, President Erdoğan said: “The Lord commands us to be violent against the unbelievers. Who is that ‘we’? Muhammad’s ummah. But he commands us to be merciful among ourselves. We will be merciful among ourselves, and we will be violent against the unbelievers, as happened in Syria.”  READ MORE