CAIRO, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Arab foreign ministers demanded on Saturday Turkey to unconditionally pull out its troops from Syrian territories, holding Ankara responsible for the consequences of its ongoing military offensive is Syria.
This came in the final statement issued by the ministers after their urgent meeting in Egypt capital Cairo to discuss the Turkish military operation in Syria.
Qatar and Somalia were the only countries to have reservations on the final statement by the AL Council of Foreign Ministers.
The foreign ministers condemned the Turkish offensive, describing it as a violation of the United Nations Charter and the resolutions of the UN Security Council that call for preserving the unity of Syria.
The ministers also urged the international community to move to prevent Turkey form obtaining any military or security cooperation that may help its forces in the attack against Syria, whose Arab League membership has been suspended since 2011.
They rejected Turkey's attempts to make any demographic changes in Syria through the safe zone it is going to create, noting that such attempts are considered a violation of the international law and are labeled as war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The Arab ministers held Ankara responsible for "the spread of terrorism or the return of terrorists groups in Syria," including the Islamic States.
They also reiterated the unity and independence of Syria, highlighting the importance of starting intra-Syrian political negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, within the framework of the constitutional committee which was established recently, in order to reach a political settlement in the Arab country.
Turkey launched a military operation on Wednesday in northern Syria against the Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units, seen by Ankara as the Syrian offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
Through the ground offensive, Turkey wants to create a safe zone on the Kurdish militia-held territory along its border.
The operation came after U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly withdrew American troops from the area following a phone call on Sunday with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
