Turkey’s Erdogan Blames US for ‘Sea of Blood’ in Region

“We can if necessary take the same measures in Syria as we took in Iraq and Qandil”, he said in a televised speech. “And we told then (the Europeans): “Sorry, we will open the doors and say ‘goodbye” to the migrants”.

Mr Erdogan said the failure to do so meant the region had “turned into a pool of blood”. While the United States, like Turkey, classifies the PKK as a terror group, it has lauded the Syrian PYD as an effective organization in countering Daesh (ISIL) militants.

“We have written proof!”

Rebel groups have been distracted by a major offensive in the area by the Syrian army and its Russian and other allies, allowing the Kurds to capture the base and expand their foothold in the north. You must have principles.

Asked about the difference of opinion between the two North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies on Monday, State Department Spokesman John Kirby said: “This is not a new concern, as I said, that the Turks have proffered”.

AFPTurkish police search through the wreckage of a blast-damaged building in Diyarbakir, on January 14, 2016.

Erdogan also said Iran-backed forces in Syria were carrying out “merciless massacres” and that the United Nations needed to do more to prevent “ethnic cleansing” in the country.

He said the United States had supported the Kurdish fighters, mostly with air power, “and that support will continue”.

Maj. Yasser Abdul-Rahim, a rebel commander in the northern province of Aleppo, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the main Kurdish militia, known as YPG, is clashing with rebels near Mannagh air base.

Ankara considers the PYD and its military wing, the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), to be affiliates of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which has waged an armed insurgency in Turkey.

The PYD and PKK share not only ideology but fighters, with the PKK drawing Syrian Kurdish fighters to its camps in northern Iraq and Turkish Kurds serving in PYD ranks.

“We don’t know if the U.S. is using the Syrian Kurds for short term tactical reasons or in the long term”.

“Second, this fresh migration flow must be kept at the Syrian side of the border via the establishment of civilian residential areas and a humanitarian aid line in a eight-kilometer [five mile] belt stretching between Syria’s Azaz and the Turkish border”, he said.

“This is a historical moment for the Kurdish people”, said Merab Shamoyev, chairman of the International Union of Kurdish Public Associations, adding that those present at the ceremony had ties to the PYD.

Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that since February 4, Russian warplanes carried out 510 combat missions and destroyed 888 “terrorist facilities” in several Syrian provinces including Aleppo, Daraa and Latakia where the government offensive is concentrated.

The talk of new cease-fire plans comes as the U.S., Russian Federation and more than a dozen other countries meet to try to halt five years of civil war.

Turkey has taken in some 3 million refugees – including more than 2.6 million Syrians – making it the country with the world’s largest refugee population.