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

Maria Zakharova went on to say that accusations by Turkey that Moscow is allegedly carrying out ethnic cleansing in Syria are “groundless”. To not approach a more serious level of conflict between leading countries, we must decide how to work together.

Downing of Russian SU 24 over Syria by Turkey.

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.

Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkmen and Sunni communities had been targeted by the effort in Russian Federation across the Latakia area.

Turkey’s prime minister has accused Russian Federation of attempting “ethnic cleansing” through its air campaign in northern Syria.

Relations between Moscow and Ankara worsened dramatically after Turkey shot down a Russian bomber near the Turkish-Syrian border late November for alleged violation of its air space.

“While Moscow said its action has been focused on ISIS, the USA and its allies have criticized Moscow for also striking moderate rebel groups opposed to Syrian President Bashar Assad”. The Syrian government said four soldiers were killed and 12 others wounded and blamed aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition.

The two men spoke by phone early on Wednesday, after the Prime Minister called Mr Putin to update him on Britain’s military action in Syria, following last week’s House of Commons vote to extend RAF missions against IS – also known as Isil, Isis or Daesh – over the border from Iraq.

Shoigu said Tu-22 bombers flying from their base in Russian Federation also took part in the latest raids, performing 60 combat sorties in the last three days.

“If the partners in the potential coalition keep asking for a set date for Assad to leave the scene, we will reply that this is against the law and against democracy”, Lavrov said.

“They want to expel them, they want to ethnically cleanse this area so that the [Assad] regime and Russian bases in Latakia and Tartus are protected”, the prime minister added.

“With regard to strikes from a submarine, Putin said, “we certainly need to analyze everything that is happening on the battlefield, how the weapons work. Russian Federation has been constructive in helping the Vienna process to take place, to be successful, and I think they want a political settlement there”. Critics have accused the Kremlin of spending taxpayer money on the bombing operation against Islamic State militants in Syria while the budget is scheduled to run a 3 percent deficit next year.