02 April 2017•Update: 03 April 2017
By Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA
Opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli has accused the U.S. and Russia of supporting terror groups in Syria.
Addressing a public meeting ahead of the upcoming constitutional referendum in northeastern Ordu province on Sunday, Bahceli said his accusation was based on recent incidents in Syria.
"The two countries, U.S.A. and Russia, which were apparently rivals of each other, clearly patronize terrorist organizations [in Syria]," he said.
The remarks came after the Turkey-led Operation Euphrates Shield, which began in August last year to eliminate the Daesh presence in northern Syria, came to an end on Wednesday.
Since Syria’s civil war erupted in 2011, more than 250,000 people have been killed and millions displaced, according to UN figures.
Bahceli said Turkey would never allow a “terror cordon” along Turkey's borders with Syria.
"We will never accept the projects which lie behind this malignant scenario.
"Nobody can saturate us [Turkish nation], nobody can order us…Nobody can set a trap for the Turkish nation," he said.
Although the PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and EU, the U.S. considers PKK's Syrian offshoot, PYD and its armed wing YPG, as "reliable partners" in the region in the fight against Daesh. Neither the EU nor the U.S. regard PYD or YPG as its offshoots.
