[RUDAW.NET] Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan... Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him...
on Saturday blasted the international community for what he said was inaction in Syria, asking whether the world was waiting for a million dead in the war-torn country before taking serious action.
"More than 600,000 civilians have been killed due to the war in Syria," Erdogan said at the opening of the parliament’s new legislative year.
"Should the international community wait until the figure reaches a million dead?" he said.
He also wondered how the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) could still exist in many parts of Syria and Iraq, despite a global coalition fighting against it for two years.
"This is the fifth year in Syria and third year in Iraq since ISIS emerged," Erdogan said, claiming there is a "plot" to maintain tension and instability in the region.
He said that is why his country had launched an incursion deep into Syria to clear the border areas from "terrorist groups."
"On the world stage, nobody opposed our operations in Syria, and so far Operation Euphrates Shield has cleared 5,000 square kilometers from ISIS (ISIS)," Erdogan said.
In a part of his speech the Turkish president accused the United States of supporting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its allied PYD and YPG forces, in Syria.
"America is working with PKK, PYD and YPG and opposing
...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
and Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and that is a giant mistake they make," he warned.
He also claimed there are attempts to let the PKK take part in a looming offensive on the ISIS-held city of djinn-infested Mosul
... the home of a particularly ferocious and hairy djinn...
in northern Iraq. "We will never accept that," he warned.
The Mosul offensive is anticipated to kick off soon, maybe as early as next month, and Erdogan vowed Turkish "will play a role" in the battle as well.
Erdogan had earlier revealed the timing for the battle to push ISIS out of its stronghold of Mosul as October 19.
Turkey parliament extends mandate for troops in Iraq, Syria by 1 year
[AlAhram]
The bill passed easily on the first day of the new session of parliament with support from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), secular opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP). Only the pro-Kurdish Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP) voted against.