France, Turkey See ‘Eye to Eye’ on Syria, Iraq

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused the Assad regime of waging “state terror”, equating the crimes of the Damascus regime with those of ISIS. In a speech to the thousands of supporters in the Black Sea city of Trabzon, Erdogan said the Assad regime and IS were both terror groups who should be dealt with accordingly. “We cannot leave their fate into the hands of the murderer Assad who is waging a state terror,” said Erdogan, referring to the 1.5 million Syrian refugees that Turkey has taken in during the conflict. “We have always displayed a principled stance towards all terrorist organizations. We are not discriminating against terror organizations, saying this one is good or this one is bad,” he said in the televised speech. “We have adopted the same stance towards ISIS,” he said using a variant of the name for IS. “But other terrorist organizations pose a threat to us too. France and Turkey agreed Friday that there was no difference between the “barbarity” of the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad-led regime and the ISIS. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius met with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in Paris earlier on Friday. The ministers told reporters they discussed “key regional issues, including the situation in Iraq and Syria.” Cavusoglu said Turkey remained committed to fighting “terrorism” in Syria. The minister said the ISIL was a serious threat to the entire region and reiterated Turkey’s commitment to do its part to fight “terrorism.” He also emphasized the need for a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria. Fabius expressed France’s support to the plan. The French foreign minister said that the Assad regime “was the one behind the development of the ISIS and the tragic situation in Kobani.” “We will not make a choice between the barbarity of al-Assad and the ISIS,” Fabius said. (Source: Syrian Coalition + Agencies)