Erdogan brushes aside criticism and insists Turkey will not abandon children caught up in conflict

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has brushed aside criticism that his foreign policy has isolated Turkey by insisting that “God and the people are with us.” Speaking from his home town of Rize, he stressed that he cannot “overlook” the killing of children in Egypt and Syria.

The prime minister made specific mention of Asma Al-Beltagi, daughter of Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Al-Beltagi, who was shot and killed by a sniper in Rabaa Al-Adawiyya Square. “She was,” Erdogan pointed out, “a child just 17 years old.”

When asked by the media about the latest killings in Syria, Turkey’s premier was adamant: “We cannot sit back and leave the children of Syria who have been murdered with chemical weapons.” Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad is, he added, finished now.