...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
's prime minister accused Russia on Wednesday of attempted "ethnic cleansing" in northern Syria, saying Moscow was trying to drive out the local Turkmen and Sunni Muslim populations to protect its military interests in the region.
Ahmet Davutoglu's comments could further harm strained relations between Moscow and Ankara, already at their worst in recent memory after Turkish forces downed a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border late last month.
"Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia to force (out) all Turkmen and Sunni population who do not have good relations with the regime," Davutoglu told foreign journalists in Istanbul.
"They want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that the regime (of Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Supressor of the Damascenes...
) and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected," he said, speaking English.
The Turkmens are ethnic kin of the Turks and Ankara has been particularly angered by what it says is Russian targeting of them in Syria.
Davutoglu said Russian bombing around Azaz, which is also in northwest Syria, was designed to cut supply lines to Syrian groups opposed to Assad, Moscow's ally, and ultimately to benefit 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....
krazed killers.