Turkey’s Davutoglu accuses Russia of wanting ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Syria

The United States heads a coalition of some 60 countries taking part in air strikes on Syria and Iraq in a bid to destroy the self-proclaimed Islamic State group.

“Whatever we learn won’t change our attitude to what the Turkish authorities did”, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, according to the BBC.

It also heightened tensions between Russian Federation and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, of which Turkey is a member.

He told several reporters in NY on Wednesday that there will also be a ministerial meeting of the U.N. Security Council on December 18 to adopt a resolution supporting the Vienna process.

Speaking during an event on the sidelines of the Paris climate talks, Kerry said despite its military and political interests in Syria, Moscow “has been constructive” in trying to find a political settlement to end the Syrian conflict. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said Wednesday that Russian aircraft from the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia could reach any target in Syria within 40 minutes, which means there is no need to have any additional air bases.

Davutoglu also said that Russia’s military strikes in Syria, which began in late September, were “strengthening” Isis by targeting moderate forces opposing Assad, especially around Azaz in northern Syria.

Ankara sent the troops to counter an increased threat from Islamic State militants to Turkish military trainers in the area, Davutoglu said, describing the deployment as “an act of solidarity”.

Later in November, the agency posted a YouTube video in which Russian jets were shown being loaded with cruise missiles and bombs and launching massive airstrikes against alleged ISIS footholds.

A US-led global coalition has been carrying out a campaign against Daesh, a group outlawed in a number of countries including Russian Federation, in Syria since 2014. “We certainly need to analyze everything that is happening on the battlefield, how the weapons work”, Putin said.

His comments came the same day that Secretary of State John Kerry said that he would be traveling to Moscow in the coming days to discuss the situation in Syria and Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Russian Federation told the United Nations on Tuesday that Turkey was acting “recklessly and inexplicably” by sending troops across the border into Iraq without the consent of the Iraqi government. The war of words between Turkey and Russia has continued ever since, with Moscow imposing sanctions such as bans on Turkish imports and, yesterday, a halt to Russian construction of a Turkish nuclear power plant.