ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan claimed that Turkey has been abandoned, left alone to fight the Islamic State (ISIS) on its own soil by the US-led coalition fighting that group in Iraq and Syria.
"They have left us alone in our struggle against this organization which is shedding our blood both through suicide bombings and by attacks on Kilis," he said at a speech in Istanbul on Sunday. Kilis is the border-town ISIS has been launching rocket attacks against since January, killing a total of 23 people to date.
"In Syria none of those who say they are fighting Daesh (ISIS) have suffered the kind of losses that we have, nor paid such a heavy price as us," Erdogan went on to claim.
ISIS has launched several terrorist bombings against Turkish cities over the last year. Turkey for its part has increasingly cracked down on the group and bombarded its positions in Syria with artillery.
Erdogan's comments come after the Turkish military claimed it killed 55 of the militants in Syria with artillery in retaliation for the latest rocket attack against Kilis.
The US-led coalition is helping Turkey strike ISIS over the border with unmanned drones, which can more effectively hit mobile rocket launchers with missiles than Turkish artillery.
Also, the Americans are reportedly going to deploy advanced surface-to-surface artillery rockets to the border region to more effectively strike ISIS positions.
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