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FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 file photo, a civilian holding a Turkish flag arrives to encourage troops at a Turkish Army staging area on the outskirts of the village of Sugedigi, Turkey, on the border with Syria. Turkey’s military offensive on the Syrian border town of Afrin, controlled by Kurdish fighters, has been long in coming. Turkish officials have been threatening to launch the offensive and preparing for it for months. But there have been shades of gray in Ankara’s professed goals about the military incursion, which was launched on Saturday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
- Lefteris Pitarakis
FILE - In this Monday, Jan. 22, 2018 file photo, Turkish army tanks head for Afrin, an enclave in northern Syria controlled by U.S.-allied Kurdish fighters, in Hassa, Hatay, Turkey. Turkey’s military offensive on the Syrian border town of Afrin, controlled by Kurdish fighters, has been long in coming. Turkish officials have been threatening to launch the offensive and preparing for it for months. But there have been shades of gray in Ankara’s professed goals about the military incursion, which was launched on Saturday. (AP Photo, File)
- STR
FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 file photo, Turkish soldiers on an armored personnel carrier secure a staging area of troops preparing their tanks to enter combat and join a military offensive on a Kurdish-held enclave in northern Syria, in the Hatay province, Turkey near the the border with Syria. Turkish officials have been threatening to launch the offensive and preparing for it for months. But there have been shades of gray in Ankara’s professed goals about the military incursion, which was launched on Saturday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
- Lefteris Pitarakis
FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018 file photo, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan speaks during the funeral prayers for Sergeant Musa Ozalkan, the first Turkish soldier to be killed in Turkey's cross-border operation on Afrin, a Kurdish held enclave in northern Syria, in Ankara, Turkey. Turkish officials have been threatening to launch the offensive and preparing for it for months. But there have been shades of gray in Ankara’s professed goals about the military incursion, which was launched on Saturday. (Kayhan Ozer/Pool Photo via AP, FILE)
- Kayhan Ozer
FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018 file photo, plumes of smoke rise on the air from inside Syria, as seen from the outskirts of the border town of Kilis, Turkey. Turkey’s military offensive on the Syrian border town of Afrin, controlled by Kurdish fighters, has been long in coming. Turkish officials have been threatening to launch the offensive and preparing for it for months. But there have been shades of gray in Ankara’s professed goals about the military incursion, which was launched on Saturday. (AP Photo/Lefteris Pitarakis, File)
- Lefteris Pitarakis
AP FACT CHECK: Shades of gray in Turkey's stated Syria goals
- By ZEINA KARAM Associated Press
- Updated