ISTANBUL: Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has told Turkey it will pay a heavy price for backing rebels fighting to oust him, accusing it of harbouring “terrorists” along its border who would soon turn against their hosts.
In an interview with Turkey’s Halk TV due to be broadcast yesterday, Assad called Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan “bigoted” and said Ankara was allowing terrorists to cross into Syria to attack the army and Syrian civilians.
“It is not possible to put terrorism in your pocket and use it as a card because it is like a scorpion which won’t hesitate to sting you at the first opportunity,” Assad said, according to a transcript from Halk TV, which is close to Turkey’s opposition.
“In the near future, these terrorists will have an impact on Turkey and Turkey will pay a heavy price for it.”
Turkey, which shares a 900-km border with Syria, is one of Assad’s fiercest critics and a staunch supporter of the opposition, although it denies arming the rebels.
It shelters about a quarter of the two million people who have fled Syria.
It has also allowed rebel fighters to cross in and out of Syria.
“Right now, Syria is headed for a sectarian war,” Erdogan said in an interview on Turkish television late on Thursday.
“This is the danger we are facing.”
Assad accused Erdogan, whose AK Party has its roots in conservative Islamist politics, of a sectarian agenda.
“Before the crisis, Erdogan had never mentioned reforms or democracy, he was never interested in these issues... Erdogan only wanted the Muslim Brotherhood to return to Syria, that was his main and core aim,” he said.
Erdogan’s government strongly denies any such agenda.
REUTERS
