Czech President Milos Zeman has accused the Turkish government of being a de facto ally of the Islamic State (ISIS) during a meeting in the Karlovy Vary region of Czechia on March 19.
"It was Turkey that served as a mediator in logistics operations for the Islamic State supplies when [this Islamic terrorist group] occupied a significant part of Syria and Iraq. Concretely speaking, these operations were carried out for oil exports [from the territory seized by terrorists] and the like", Czech President Milos Zeman said, blaming Turkey for supporting the Islamic State.
"Why [do the Turks] attack the Kurds? Because they are de facto allies of the ISIS", the Czech President said, responding a question from one of the meeting’s participants.
Zeman also stated that "It was Turkey that served as a mediator in logistics operations for the Islamic State supplies when [this Islamic terrorist group] occupied a significant part of Syria and Iraq. Concretely speaking, these operations were carried out for oil exports [from the territory seized by terrorists] and the like."
"TURKEY HAS BEEN FOLLOWING POLICIES BASED ON ISLAMIC IDEOLOGY"
Accusing the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of pursuing a domestic and foreign policy that has transformed Turkey into an Islamic country, Zeman noted: "This is no longer the secular state of [Mustafa Kemal] Ataturk, but a state that professes Islamic ideology, and as follows logically, that the Turkish state stands close to the Islamic radicals and attacks the Kurds."
Former Syrian Kurdish PYD leader Saleh Muslim was detained in February 2018, in the Czech capital at the request of Turkey, which accuses him of disrupting the state and aggravated murder.
A court released him after a few days despite Turkey's call for his detention pending an extradition request. Czech authorities halted extradition proceedings against Salih Muslim in March, 2019. Turkey accused the Czech judicial authorities of backing terror after the release of Muslim, warning that ties between Ankara and Prague would be harmed.
While the Turkish authorities have yet to respond to Zeman’s accusations, Ankara has continuously blamed the Western powers for backing the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) deemed as a terrorist organization by Turkey.
PYD and YPG control areas in Northern Syria, having a border with Turkey. Ankara considers the US-backed PYD and YPG as "a national threat" due to their ties with the PKK.
In December 2018, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said that the Turkish Armed Forces is preparing a new military operation against the Kurdish militants in northern Syrian territories. Yet, after the talks with the U.S. President Donald Trump, who announced the withdrawal of the U.S. troops from Syria, Erdoğan postponed his planned military operation, claiming that the Turkish Armed Forces’ military offensive would be carried out only after the complete withdrawal of the U.S. forces from the region.
