The Turkish president has appeared in a bizarre video in which he assures a sobbing child in military uniform that she would get state honours if killed while fighting. We have our maroon berets here, but maroon berets never cry,' he told her, referring to the beret worn by the Turkish Special Operations Forces. The president's comments were immediately condemned on twitter - one person likened them to child abuse while another sad the president was wrong to says 'God willing' to the death of a child. Turkey on 20 January launched a major operation aimed at ousting YPG Kurdish forces from their enclave of the northwestern town of Afrin. Mr Erdogan earlier this month said troops would also move east to Manbij - where unlike Afrin there is a US military presence.

Source: Daily Mail February 26, 2018 12:23 UTC