Turkish Army Handing Over Order Control in Afrin to Local Police – Official

AFRIN (Syria), (Sputnik) – The Turkish military have commenced the transition of order control functions in the northern Syrian city of Afrin to the local police, a coordinator of the Turkish humanitarian mission in Afrin said Sunday.

"As of now, 2,000 local police officers are working in Afrin and 2,000 more are undergoing the training. So, the process of the transition of these functions to the local police has already begun. Within a week the military will begin the transition of order control in Afrin to the local police," the coordinator told the reporters.

On January 20, Turkey and the Free Syrian Army opposition forces launched Operation Olive Branch in Afrin. The goal of the operation was to clear Turkey's Syrian border of the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party (PYD), which Turkey believes to be linked to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Both YPG and PKK are considered terrorist organizations by Ankara. In late March, Ankara announced that the district was under complete Turkish control.

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Damascus condemned the operation and viewed it as a violation of Syrian sovereignty.

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