Erdogan: Ignoring Assad’s crimes under pretext of combating Daesh is a major offense

Those who ignore Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s crimes under the pretext of combating Daesh are “committing the largest crimes in human history”, the Anadolu Agency reported the Turkish president saying yesterday.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that those who turn a blind eye to the killing of around 400,000 people by the Assad regime over the past five years under the pretext of fighting 10,000 or 20,000 armed Daesh militants are criminals. He noted that Assad’s regime only controls 14 per cent of Syria.

Erdogan noted that Daesh are fighting with weapons seized from the Iraqi and Syrian armies and they are facing four million soldiers that own the most modern weapon systems in the world.

He stressed his country’s support for the Syrian people, saying: “Turkey will continue standing beside Syrian brothers based on its ethical and historical responsibilities.”

Commenting on Russian President Vladimir Putin, who claimed he did not know about the Turkmen presence in Latakia, Erdogan said: “All of them do not say the truth. I have personally told Mr Putin that there is no Daesh presence there but there are Turkmen.”

Meanwhile, Erdogan considered the Syrian crisis a “dynamic product for the region from one side, and a project to undermine Turkey’s rise from another side.”