Syria crisis to drag the world into vortex if not adequately handled: Erdoğan

ANKARA

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The Syrian crisis will drag the whole world into a vortex if the problem is not rightly handled, the Turkish president has said, indirectly criticizing Russia and Iran for supporting the Bashar al-Assad regime though it commits state terror on its own people. 

“The Syria issue is doomed to grow and turn into a vortex that will drag not only the region but the whole world in, if it’s not handled in the right way. If some countries are backing a man committing state terror and are supporting him, then they will become countries that history will never forgive,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an address in the Central Anatolian province of Çankırı on Oct. 13. 

“Any intervention into Syria that ignores this fact will first put that country into trouble. I believe the whole world, particularly those countries trying to establish their influence will sooner or later understand this reality,” President Erdoğan said. 

Erdoğan referred to Russia and Iran’s recent moves in the region of openly supporting the regime, with the former currently reinforcing the Syrian army. Russia have deployed troops and jetfighters in Syria and begun to bomb moderate opposition forces as well as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Erdoğan said countries supporting Assad will be counted as supporting terror, as he increased his criticism against Russian involvement in the Syria crisis.

Fight against terror

On Turkey’s fight against terror, Erdoğan criticized countries that help terrorist organizations by not providing enough support to Turkey’s struggle against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). 

“What is the difference between the bomb Daesh [the Arabic acronym for ISIL] exploded in Suruç and the bomb the PKK exploded in Gaziantep?” Erdoğan asked, recalling two separate terror incidents. 

Erdoğan also criticized some groups in Turkey who ignore PKK terrorism. “These groups are doing everything to promote the PKK, other structures under this organization and their members,” he said. 

“Those who put blame on the state, on the government and even on me for terror incidents should know that they are standing together with the terrorist organizations,” he added.