Turkish President: "Very Clear" US is Supporting ISIS in Syria

By Kody Fairfield

The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that it is “very clear” that the United States (US) has been supporting terror groups, including the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria during a press conference held in the country’s capital of Ankara.

On Tuesday, Erdogan stepped up to the his podium alongside the Guinean President Alpha Conde, and explained that his country has evidence which purports that the United States-led coalition is supporting terror groups including the Kurdish militant groups, the Democratic Union Party (PYG), the Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG), and even ISIS.

In his press conference, Erdogan explained, “They [US] were accusing us of supporting Daesh (Islamic State)…Now they give support to terrorist groups including Daesh, YPG, PYD. It’s very clear. We have confirmed evidence, with pictures, photos and videos.”

The Turkish President’s statements strongly contradict the notion that the US has not supported rebel groups connected to terror, even though they have admittedly been involved in assisting other rebel groups fight against Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.

According to The Sun, some of this may be explained by the effort that is on going in Al Bab, a city near Aleppo. It is there that the Turkish military is taking on ISIS for control of the city. Casualties have been numerous, and Turkey has grown impatient because of the perceived lack of support of its supposed North Atlantic Treaty Organization ally.

“The coalition forces are unfortunately not keeping their promises. Whether they do or they don’t, we will continue along this path in a determined way. There is no going back on the path we have set out on,” complained Erdogan.

This is not the first time that the Turkish head-of-state has made these accusations about the US coalition. Back in November, he claimed that “the West stands by Daesh right now,” and that their weapons were Western-made.

Notwithstanding his complaints of assistance, Erdogan went on to claim that, “we now have the Daesh terror group surrounded on four sides in Al-Bab.”

The Sun is also reporting that Turkey, along with Russia, backed a plan to bring the parties in the conflict together with key powers for peace talks in the Kazakh capital Astana. With this however, Erdogan has mentioned the terror groups must not be involved.