Turkey- Russian air strikes vile cruel and barbaric: Turkish PM

(MENAFN- The Journal Of Turkish Weekly) Turkish Prime MinisterAhmet Davutoluhas strongly denounced Russia’s bombing campaign in Syria declaring it “vile cruel and barbaric” while also chastising Ankara’s allies particularly Washington for shying away from condemning Russia’s acts with a clear language.
“Those vile cruel and barbaric planes have made close to 8000 sorties since Sept. 30 [2015] without any discrimination between civilians and soldiers or children and the elderly” Davutolu said Feb. 16 in parliament.

“Now supposedly moving toward peace with the Munich meeting they are resuming the same flagitious attacks so that Turley’s corridor to Aleppo will be closed and Aleppo will be destined for hunger before a cease-fire is reached” he said.

Tensions between Turkey andRussiahave soared over Moscow’s backing for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s air campaign against what it claims are “terrorist” targets in the country.

Turkey has long backed al-Assad’s ouster and like other Western nations accusesRussiaof predominantly bombing Syrian rebel groups backed by Washington and its allies instead of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

Al-Assad’s forces have most recently usedRussianair support to move ever closer to the rebel stronghold of Aleppo in northern Syria which alarmedAnkarathat Syrian Kurdish militia could take control of the region near the Turkish border.

Ankara considers the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia force the People’s Protection Units (YPG) to be branches of the outlawedKurdistan Workers’ Party(PKK) which is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States and theEuropean Unionas well as Turkey.

Turkish artillery has been attacking Syrian Kurdish targets since the weekend.Russiahas described Turkey’s shelling of Kurdish and Syrian government positions in the north of the country as a “provocative” action.

“Russia is slaughtering oppressed people with these bombardments; Turkey is trying to ensure its border security with retaliations launched from its border and to create a safe zone for the oppressed people butRussiais complaining about Turkey at the U.N. Security Council. Why? Because it is a member of the U.N. Security Council” Davutolu said.

“What is interesting is that the U.S. and our other allies who need to fling this crime in Russia’s face are saying ‘We are condemning bombardments targeting civilians in Aleppo’ [with reference to] an anonymous criminal as if there is no criminal and subject in the open. Who conducted this bombardment? Say it openly by name” he said.

The prime minister also accused the PYD/YPG of being “Russia’s legion working as mercenaries” with the priority of harming Turkey’s interests.

“The YPG and PYD are not representatives of the Kurds not of Syria they areRussianlegionnaires and mercenaries” he said.

“In the face of all of these provocations I’m calling on beyond Syria beyond Iraq and everywhere. Nobody should attempt to exploit the Kurds. The Kurds’ state patron and protector is the state of the Republic of Turkey.”