Turkey supports terrorists killing Syrians: President Assad

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says Turkey supports terrorists who commit atrocities against the people in Syria, urging Ankara to stop meddling in his country’s internal affairs.

“Turkey has supplied all logistic support to the terrorists who have killed our people,” Assad said in an interview with the Turkish Cumhuriyet daily published on Wednesday. The first part of the interview was published Tuesday.

“Turkey’s desire to interfere in Syria’s internal affairs has put it in a position which unfortunately makes it a party to all the bloody activities” in Syria, he added.

Assad also accused Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of being motivated by “sectarian instincts.” He said while Ankara is trying to persuade Damascus to introduce political reforms, it ignores the killings and democratic shortfalls in other Arab states.

In the first part of the interview, Assad had expressed regret that his country’s defense forces shot down a Turkish F-4 Phantom on June 22, but insisted that the plane was downed for violating Syria’s airspace.

“I would have wished 100 percent that we had not attacked it,” Assad said.

He said the plane was flying at low altitude and in an air corridor used in the past by the Israeli planes to attack Syria. Ankara, however, claims that the jet was downed in international airspace.

On June 26, Erdogan said in an address to the parliament that Ankara would retaliate “with determination” and take the “necessary steps by determining the time, place and method by itself.”

The Turkish Hurriyet Daily reported on the same day that Turkey had deployed a “large number of military vehicles to the Syrian border,” including “15 armored tanks, in addition to long-distance guns and other military vehicles.”

President Assad said on June 26 that Syria was in a “real situation of war.”

“When one is in a state of war, all our policies and capabilities must be used to secure victory,” Assad stated.