Erdogan: Russia wants to create a dwarf state in the northwest of Syria

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said that Russia intends to create a dwarf state in the territories of the North-Western Syrian Muhafazy Latakia. It is reported by Reuters.

The desire to prepare the ground for the formation of such a state, Erdogan explained the attacks of Russia on the Syrian Turkmen living in this area.

The city of Latakia, the center of the muhafazy of the same name, is the birthplace of the Assadi clan, ruling Syria for the past 45 years. In the vicinity of the same city is the only military base of Russia in the Middle East.

The other day, Vladimir Putin said that the Syrian dictator Bashar Assad made many mistakes during the civil war, which lasted almost four years in the country. When asked whether Russia is ready to provide Assad asylum, the Russian leader replied that it was too early to talk about it. “First you need to give the Syrian people to speak out,” Putin said. “And I assure you, if this goes in a democratic way, in this way, then maybe it will not be necessary to leave Assad anywhere. And it will not be important whether he will be president or not.”

According to the Syrian Supervisory Board of Human Rights, from September 30, 2015, when Moscow openly intervened in the Syrian war, and at least 2371 people died from Russian airstrikes in this country, including 792 civilians . At the same time, Russian officials and propagandists claim that blows in Syria are inflicted only on the objects of the Islamic State.

The relations of Russia and Turkey from the end of November 2015 have become very aggravated. One of the main reasons for this was the bombardment of the positions of the Syrian Turkmen, fighting against Assad. Last month, Moscow imposed economic sanctions against Ankara.

On December 17, Putin stated that he did not hear the Syrian Turkmens. On December 21, Erdogan denied this, saying: "I personally told Putin that there was no" Islamic state "in Bayyrbujak, but there are only Syrian Turkmen." The Turkish President added that "there are currently dead Turkmen."