Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, speaking Tuesday at a meeting of the parliamentary faction of his Party of justice and development, warned Russia about the potential consequences of operation in Syria, Recalling how the Soviet Union is mired in the war in Afghanistan, according to Huriyett.
“No one should forget how the troops of the Soviet Union, which were mighty and very strong during the cold war, entered Afghanistan and left it in the slave position. Those who went to Syria today, keep her in the same condition,” he said.
The Soviet Union withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989 — nearly ten years after the start of the campaign, which began at the request of Kabul. The Russian operation in Syria against is forbidden in Russia grouping “Islamic state” (ISIS) became the first since then a major campaign of Moscow on the territory of a foreign state, notes Huriyett.
“Russia continues to relentlessly bomb civilian targets, which have nothing to do with terrorism. We have information about the location of every bomb dropped by Russia [in Syria], one of them,” said Davutoglu (quoted by Huriyett). He was called “bloody” recent events in the province of Aleppo, where he continued the attack the Syrian army, with Russian air support.
The Russian defense Ministry has repeatedly stated that the aim of the airstrikes in Syria become solely an “Islamic state” and other terrorist organizations. Responding to concern about the events in Aleppo, expressed last week by the UN Secretary General ban Ki-moon, the representative of the Russian foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova asked him to present the facts supporting the death of innocent civilians as a result of Russian air strikes.
The Turkish Prime Minister at a meeting of the Party of justice and development said that 90% of the more than 6 thousand strikes of Russian aviation were caused either by the positions of the rebels fighting Bashar al-Assad, or civilian targets, and only 10% on “Islamic state”. “The time has come to put an end to this,” said the Turkish Prime Minister.
Criticism of Russia from Western leaders has intensified amid the onset of the Syrian government army in the North in Aleppo province. Assad troops, supported by Russian aircraft managed to capture the city Baden and Retian, to cut the main supply lines of the opposition Syrian free army (FSA) and settle in 25 km from the border with Turkey.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an interview Hurriyett criticized President Vladimir Putin, calling it “essentially a squatter,” and German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that “not only shocked, but appalled” by the suffering of civilians in Syria caused by the Assad offensive.
In the Kremlin statement on the eve of Erdogan described as absurd. On Tuesday the President’s press Secretary Dmitry Peskov urged to carefully and responsibly give interpretation of what is happening in Syria. So he answered the question of journalists about the criticism sounded in the address of Russia on the part of Chancellor Merkel.
