Turkey to stay in Syria until ‘people are free’: Erdogan

Turkey will maintain its military presence in northern Syria "until the people are free," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said yesterday, blasting the "so-called" parliamentary vote in the war-torn country.

Turkey has launched three military incursions into northern Syria since 2016 to battle the Islamic State group and Kurdish militia deemed by Ankara as "terrorists".

"We will continue to stay in this country until our thousand-year neighbour and brother, the Syrian people, reach freedom, peace and security," Erdogan said in a televised speech in the capital Ankara.