Turkey hinders Kurds’ fight against Takfiri terrorists: Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov slammed Turkey Wednesday for attacking positions of Kurdish fighters, saying Ankara is “frustrating” efforts made to fight the ISIl Takfiri terrorists.

“When the Kurds try and take back territory from Islamic State (Daesh) the Turkish side starts artillery strikes on the Kurdish positions frustrating their attempts to fight the terrorist organization,” Lavrov said in a joint press conference with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in the Russian capital, Moscow.

The Russian foreign minister also cast doubt on Ankara’s claim of battling against terrorism.

Ankara “refuses to effectively stick to the path of the fight against terrorism and more than that, is using the slogan of the war against terrorism to suppress Kurdish” forces in Syria and Turkey," he said.

Earlier this week, Lavrov also criticized Turkey’s shelling of Kurdish positions in Syria and called Ankara’s actions on the border with the Arab country “creeping expansion.” He said that Moscow has evidence that Turkish forces are on Syrian territory despite Ankara’s denial of troops’ entry into the war-torn Arab country.

Turkey, which has been among the main supporters of the militant groups operating in Syria, has been attacking positions of Kurdish People’s Protection Units, also known as the YPG, over the past few months, accusing them of having links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militant group.

SS