Erdogan Did Not Announce Ambitions to Annex Syrian Cities

Social media users claim that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan wants to annex some Syrian cities: Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, and Raqqa.

The claim stirred controversy online, especially in light of Turkey’s stance on Syria. One X user, “S p r i n t e r,” shared the video reflecting Erdogan’s previous talk in which he stated that Turkey has “no ambitions to occupy even an inch of any country's territory,” and compared it with the claimed quoted attributed to him, which is: “The Syrian cities that we call Aleppo, Idlib, Damascus, and Raqqa can become our provinces, like Gaziantep, Hatay and Urfa.”

The American media website News.am shared the claim in an article, titled: “Erdogan announced plans to annex territories of Syria to Turkey,” further fueling the controversy.