Erdogan: Turkey will remain in Syria 'until the people are free'

Turkey's president says his forces will not leave until there is peace

This handout picture released by the Turkish Presidential press office shows Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan (C), flanked by flanked by Turkish Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy (R), greeting people as he leaves the Hagia Sophia monument in Istanbul, on July 19, 2020.   Turkey's Hagia Sophia will open to visitors outside prayer times and its Christian icons will remain, religious officials said on July 14, 2020 after a court ruling paved the way for it to become a mosque. Hagia Sophia was a cathedral for nearly 1,000 years before being converted into a mosque in 1453 and a museum in 1935. - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
 / AFP / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS SERVICE / Handout / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / HO / TURKISH PRESIDENTIAL PRESS OFFICE" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS
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Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday that Turkish forces, which have carried out several incursions into northern Syria since 2016, would remain in the country until Syrians could live in freedom and safety.

"Nowadays they are holding an election, a so-called election," Mr Erdogan said of a parliamentary election on Sunday in Syria's government-controlled regions, after nearly a decade of civil war.

"Until the Syrian people are free, peaceful and safe, we will remain in this country," he said in Ankara.