ISTANBUL
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed claims associating Turkey with terrorist groups, amid renewed fighting between Kurdish forces and Daesh militants in the Syrian town of Kobani near Turkish border.
Erdogan was speaking after an iftar organization and an award ceremony for The Turkish Red Crescent in Istanbul late Friday.
"I am calling on those who have been tweeting 'Terrorist Turkey', he said, "How dare you could define a country that has provided shelter for Kobani residents [escaping Daesh attacks] as a terrorist country?"
Erdogan said Turkey supports the fight for freedom in Syria, "but we never act in unison with terrorist groups."
"Nobody can associate Turkey with [Bashar] Assad regime -- a state terrorizing its people -- or with the other terror groups."
On Thursday, nearly two dozens of people were killed and at least 130 others wounded as Daesh militants attacked Kobani with two bomb-laden vehicles, sparking a new bout of fighting between Kurdish forces and Daesh after the Kurdish-majority town was overrun by the extremist group last September.
Syrian state television and some Kurdish politicians had claimed that Daesh militants crossed through Turkish territory to strike Kobani -- which has been strongly rejected by Turkish authorities, a stance also confirmed by Kurdish fighters on the ground.
The president also reiterated that Turkey would not tolerate the establishment of a new state in the northern part of civil war-torn Syria.
"We will continue our struggle to stop it [a new state] at any cost," he stressed.
