(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) A Turkey-proposed safe zone in northern Syria could have saved thousands of lives and prevented terrorist groups like Daesh from gaining a foothold in the region, Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Monday.
Davutoglu's remarks came as Turkey launched airstrikes on Daesh in Syria in response to a series of recent attacks, including one that killed 32 victims in southern Sanliurfa province last week.
Turkey has also approved U.S. access to the strategic Incirlik Air Base to deploy manned and unmanned aerial vehicles as part of the fight against the terrorist group.
"If there is one person who is responsible for all these terrorist crimes and humanitarian tragedies in Syria," Davutoglu said, "it is [President Bashar] Assad's approach using chemical weapons, barrel bombs against civilians.
"Because of that power vacuum, terrorist organizations like ISIS was able to be active in Syrian territories," Davutoglu told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. ISIS is another term for Daesh.
To defeat Daesh, Davutoglu said there needed to be "an integrated strategy", and this should include "some other elements" to find a solution to the Syrian conflict.
"In order to eliminate threats, we have to fight against ISIS, yes, but we have to create a new situation in Syria so that there wouldn't be any base for any terrorist organization to reactivate this type of terrorist activities", Davutoglu told CNN's Christiane Amanpour. ISIS is another term for Daesh.
The conflict in Syria, which started in March 2011 when the Assad regime responded to anti-government protests with a violent crackdown, has left more than 230,000 people dead and nearly half of the country's population displaced, according to the U.N.
Davutoglu said Turkey € "from the early stages of the Syrian crisis" € had been suggesting the idea to establish a "safe area" along the Turkey-Syria border in which Syrian refugees currently in Turkey and in neighboring countries € along with those displaced within Syria and Iraq € could return.
The area could also serve as a safe zone "where terrorist groups cannot come in, and, in that area civilians could feel safe against regime attacks and against terrorist groups", he said. "Now it is time to have such an area against ISIS attacks especially".
The Turkey-proposed safe haven appears to have gained more traction with the latest developments.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Saturday that the elimination of Daesh would automatically lead to the formation of a "safe zone" in Syria.
On Sunday, the Washington Post wrote that Turkey and the U.S. had agreed on the outlines of a de facto "safe zone" along the Turkey-Syria border under the terms of a deal expected to increase the scope of the U.S.-led air war against Daesh in northern Syria.
Turkish officials also said Turkish air forces would also take part in coalition airstrikes against the terrorist group.
"But at the same time we have to have a strategy about the future of Syria", the Turkish premier said.
"There we need to support moderate opposition forces. Moderate opposition forces means all those forces who are tolerant to other Syrian citizens, who do not commit any terrorist crime and who do not collaborate with the Syrian regime, which is responsible for all these humanitarian tragedies in the last four, five years," he added.
When asked about Turkey's recent airstrikes against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Davutoglu said "this fight is against PKK ... not against Kurds.
"In the last four days ... PKK killed several police, several soldiers and civilians, so, in a high level security meeting we instructed our security forces that there should be a synchronized fight against terror, and whoever is committing terrorist activity in Turkey, we must be active against them", he said.
Turkish jets bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq after a series of attacks targeted Turkish security forces in the country's southeastern region. The attacks are believed to have been carried out by the outlawed organization.
The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S., the EU and Turkey.
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