Erdogan criticized that the U.S. and Russia "rely on their military might and turn neighboring Syria into a wrestling ground." But he also emphasized that Turkey doesn't intend to give up its alliance with the U.S. nor its strategic relations with Russia to solve regional problems.
"Turkey has a unique position to be a mediator in this crisis because we are honest in our efforts to stop the bloodshed in our neighbor," said an official from Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to Xinhua after the air raids in Syria.
He also insisted that the airstrikes would not disrupt the Astana process in Syria that was brokered last year between Moscow, Ankara and Teheran.
Turkey is caught in the heat of the Syrian crisis where it launched an offensive in late January in the northwest region of Afrin to root out a U.S.-backed Kurdish militia, considered as a liability to its national security.
Moreover, Turkey hosts some 3.5 million displaced Syrians since the beginning of the war in 2011.
Turkey's Deputy Prime Minister, Bekir Bozdag, announced on Saturday that the Incirlik airbase in southern province of Adana where U.S. serviceman deployed, was not used in the airstrikes on Syria.
Although Turkey has been a loyal NATO member since 1952, its growing defense cooperation with Moscow in recent years has sparked concerns in the block.
The Turkish-Russian cooperation includes a recent 2 billion U.S. dollars deal of S-400 surface-to-air missile systems. Experts said that the S-400 deal came as a real blow to Ankara's ties with its traditional western allies.
【国际英语资讯:Spotlight: NATO chief to visit Turkey on Syria crisis following U.S.-led airstrikes】相关文章:
最新
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15
2020-09-15