Moscow Courts Turkish Kurds, Outraging Ankara

“Of course, this is their essential right”.

Lavrov told Demirtas Russia was ready to cooperate closely with ethnic Kurds fighting against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.

He said the fabrics already purchased by Russian textile companies from Turkish fabric manufacturers are still in Turkey, as the carriers refuse to deliver them into Russia or are waiting in the transit zone between Ukraine and Russia.

Russian Federation imposed economic sanctions on Turkey after the November 24 incident and has sharply criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

“Supporting Russia while it kills civilians in Syria is treason not only against this country, but also against humanity”, Davutoglu said in a meeting with Turkish business leaders.

As Reuters put it, while reporting on Demirtas’ visit to Moscow, Russia is “keenly aware of the sensitivity of Ankara to any contacts between Moscow and Kurdish politicians”, but they are having such contacts, anyway.

We attach a great deal of importance to Russian-Turkish relations, and it is a cause of sadness to us that a situation has occurred, as a result of which relations have soured, “Demirtas told Lavrov at the meeting”.

The prime minister is still due to meet Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), on December, 30, and the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli on January 4.

“During a process when Russian airplanes have been bombing innocent Turkmens, innocent Arabs and innocent Kurds in Azaz, Aleppo, Idlib and Bayırbucak, running toRussia and declaring support is openly betraying the nation”.

Stratfor, a private US global intelligence think tank, said that by receiving Demirtas “Moscow has found a pressure point in the form of the Kurds”.

Turkey has long maintained that the best way to end the bloody Syrian civil war is to kick Assad and his entourage out of Damascus.

“We know that there are Iraqi and Syrian Kurds among those who on the ground resist the threat from Islamic State and other extremist groups with weapons in their hands”, he said.