ERBIL, Kurdistan Region—The Middle East is suffering from a kind of sectarianism that would divide the entire region, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an interview with Al Arabiya Channel, calling on neighboring countries to join hands and prevent this from happening.
“There are intentions in the world to divide us and we need to join our efforts and come together. Look at what is happening in Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Libya ... we have to overcome these problems and if we manage to do so, the Islamic world will be more powerful,” he said.
The Turkish president whose country has often exchanged criticism and accusations with Iran over the war in Iraq and Syria and their support for opposing armed groups, said, “There are disagreements between Turkey and Iran, but I do not want these disparities to affect good neighborly relations ... sectarianism should not prompt us to become enemies, Islam must be our reference.”
Erdogan justified in the interview the deployment of Turkish troops to a camp near Mosul beginning of December, saying that it was done at the request of the Iraqi authorities.
He said: “When ISIS entered Iraq, the Iraqis asked for our help and we told them we were ready. We asked them to assign a suitable site to set up our base and so they did. It all began at the end of last year, and in March, we were allocated the Bashiqa area.”
The Turkish president admitted that the presence of his troops in Iraq had upset some authorities in Baghdad. Adding in the meantime that Ankara could not join the Russian alliance formed in Iraq earlier this month.
“The Iraqi defense minister visited the training camp, but it seems that the developments in Syria have affected the situation in Iraq. Syria, Iran, Iraq and Russia have formed a quartet alliance in Baghdad and asked Turkey to join, but I told President [Vladimir] Putin that I cannot sit alongside a president whose legitimacy is distrustful.” Erdogan explained.
“There are intentions in the world to divide us and we need to join our efforts and come together. Look at what is happening in Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Libya ... we have to overcome these problems and if we manage to do so, the Islamic world will be more powerful,” he said.
The Turkish president whose country has often exchanged criticism and accusations with Iran over the war in Iraq and Syria and their support for opposing armed groups, said, “There are disagreements between Turkey and Iran, but I do not want these disparities to affect good neighborly relations ... sectarianism should not prompt us to become enemies, Islam must be our reference.”
Erdogan justified in the interview the deployment of Turkish troops to a camp near Mosul beginning of December, saying that it was done at the request of the Iraqi authorities.
He said: “When ISIS entered Iraq, the Iraqis asked for our help and we told them we were ready. We asked them to assign a suitable site to set up our base and so they did. It all began at the end of last year, and in March, we were allocated the Bashiqa area.”
The Turkish president admitted that the presence of his troops in Iraq had upset some authorities in Baghdad. Adding in the meantime that Ankara could not join the Russian alliance formed in Iraq earlier this month.
“The Iraqi defense minister visited the training camp, but it seems that the developments in Syria have affected the situation in Iraq. Syria, Iran, Iraq and Russia have formed a quartet alliance in Baghdad and asked Turkey to join, but I told President [Vladimir] Putin that I cannot sit alongside a president whose legitimacy is distrustful.” Erdogan explained.
Comments
Rudaw moderates all comments submitted on our website. We welcome comments which are relevant to the article and encourage further discussion about the issues that matter to you. We also welcome constructive criticism about Rudaw.
To be approved for publication, however, your comments must meet our community guidelines.
We will not tolerate the following: profanity, threats, personal attacks, vulgarity, abuse (such as sexism, racism, homophobia or xenophobia), or commercial or personal promotion.
Comments that do not meet our guidelines will be rejected. Comments are not edited – they are either approved or rejected.
Post a comment