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Turkey insists on own stance on Syria issue in defiance of discords

Türkiye Materials 28 October 2014 07:40 (UTC +04:00)
In remarks carried out by several Turkish newspapers on Monday, Erdogan said Turkey disagrees with the U.S., Russia and Iran on resolving the three-year-long Syrian crisis
Turkey insists on own stance on Syria issue in defiance of discords

In what appears to be an open admission of Turkey's loneliness on policies with regard to Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed his frustration over differences his country has with the United States, Russia and Iran, Xinhua agency reported.

In remarks carried out by several Turkish newspapers on Monday, Erdogan said Turkey disagrees with the U.S., Russia and Iran on resolving the three-year-long Syrian crisis.

"Unfortunately, we disagree with Russia over the Syria issue. We have talked about this many times, but we wasted time despite our meetings. Russia continues to support the Syrian regime," Erdogan said.

Turkey declared the Syrian Bashar al-Assad regime as illegitimate and conditioned any resolution of the crisis to the ouster of Assad from the power.

Russia however opposed to Turkey's position and vetoed several United Nations Security Council resolutions condemning Assad regime over crackdown on the opposition.

Moreover, the Turkish president did not spare Iran from his criticism in which he accused Turkey's eastern neighbor of playing into sectarian divisions.

"When we have bilateral meetings with Iran, they agree on solving this issue together. When it comes to action, unfortunately, they have their own way of working and they work in that way," he explained.

Iran, ally of Syria for decades, has supported Assad both militarily and politically.

In strongly worded statements, the Turkish president also lashed out at the U.S., saying that Turkey's NATO ally did not pay heed to Turkish concerns.

"The U.S. has not taken any stance on the declaration of a no- fly zone in the area," Erdogan lamented, adding that the U.S. air dropping weapons to Syrian Kurds over the border town Ayn al-Arab did not help the situation.

"What's being done here does not have any positive effects on our expectations for the actions against the Syrian regime," he noted.

Ali Aslan, Washington-based Turkish journalist, said the American arms supplies to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in the Kurdish populated Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab, also known as Kobane on Sunday in spite of Ankara's strong objections has meant a slap in the face of Turkish leaders.

The PYD is the Syrian affiliate of Turkey's outlawed Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), which is listed as terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union and Turkey.

Turkey equates the PYD and the PKK yet both the U.S. and the EU do not designate the PYD as terrorist group.

"The main reason for the disagreement between the US and Turkey over Ayn al-Arab is a deeper disagreement over their Syria policies," he said, stressing that Turkish leaders have misread America's position and intention in Syria.

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