Turkish Leader: U.S. Responsible For 'Sea Of Blood' For Supporting Syrian Kurds

[Purveyor]

(CNN)Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has had no shortage of harsh, withering words for enemies involved in the bloody civil war in neighboring Syria.

Now, he's turning his verbal barrage on a key NATO ally: the United States.

Erdogan ripped into Washington on Wednesday, claiming it's responsible for a "sea of blood" in Syria for what he called its ignorance about dangers posed by other groups, not just ISIS, in the region. Specifically, he slammed America's refusal not just to resist branding Syrian Kurdish fighters as terrorists but in supporting them militarily.

"I told you many times: Are you with us or with this terrorist organization?" a fiery Erdogan told a gathering of village leaders, according to Turkish state media.

Such anger against Washington is noteworthy, though a Turkish leader lashing out at Kurds is nothing new. The ethnic group has been a thorn in Ankara's side for decades, having been blamed for violence as part of its separatist push. Ankara has fought back and is still fighting back, with the Kurds viewed as a very real threat.

more...

http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/10/middleeast/turkey-erdogan-criticizes-us/

[6chars]

1. I will say it. Erdogan is a flawed leader.

sorry.

[cascadiance]

2. There are so many things that Erdogan has done to screw up that country...

Erdogan's AKP party got elected over the Kemalist party that had been in power before it took over after the earlier gulf wars and previous CHP presidencies had put Turkey in economic trouble, and Erdogan has brought it back.

But so much of Erdogan's policies have been controversial and corrupt.

Note that his attempt to tear down Gezi Park in Istanbul that fueled heavy protests there not only for the symbolism of taking out a great recreational and beautiful park to put in place a monument to the Ottoman empire, in a nation that is largely secular now, but that it was a corrupt move meant to benefit his son-in-law, who had the building contract to do all of the construction work to do that as noted here...

http://mic.com/articles/45969/taksim-gezi-park-protests-call-recep-tayyip-erdogan-a-tyrant-but-is-it-true#.oveloQDBm

Erdogan has used his government’s economic success as justification for massive urban development projects. Gezi Park is an extremely popular and rare oasis of green in Istanbul, but the government has chosen to disregard community concerns over traffic, the environment, and standards of living by pushing forward “redevelopment” plans by decree.

In fact, the government is seizing the surrounding area of Tarlabasi using the eminent domain law, and empowering developers to transform it into an upscale neighborhood. As FP reports, “While Tarlabasi was declared an "urban renewal area" in 2006, residents did not learn about the planned demolition of their houses until 2008.” The company contracted to rebuild Tarlabasi is owned by none other that Erdogan’s son-in-law.

Coincidentally, recently Russia accused Erdogan's son-in-law of doing oil trading with ISIS too.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-accuses-president-erdogans-son-in-law-of-being-linked-to-isis-oil-trade-a6761436.html

Erdogan's minions of power like Ahmet Calik, etc. have facilitated more of a consolidation of power and industries like the media, which has made Turkey a lot less democratic than it was before, though the social media revolutions of the Arab Spring have made it a bit harder for him to completely control the media, etc. with protests for things like Gezi Park.