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No more govt. support for terrorists in Syria: Turkish opposition

Leader of the pro-Kurdish People's Democratic Party (HDP) Selahattin Demirtas addresses supporters during celebrations for election results in Istanbul on June 8, 2015. (AFP photo)

The Turkish opposition group, the People’s Democratic Party (HDP), has called for an immediate end to Ankara’s support for terrorists in Syria.

On Tuesday, Selahattin Demirtas, HDP’s co-leader, said the demand was a pre-condition to join a coalition government with the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP).

He made the call a day after his party became the first Turkish group with Kurdish roots to enter parliament.

Demirtas noted that the move would be the key to restore the foreign relations of the new Turkish government to normal state.

During the June 7 parliamentary election, Turkish President Reccep Tayyip Erdogan’s AKP lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since coming to power in 2002.

The left-wing HDP easily surpassed the required 10 percent threshold and thwarted AKP from acquiring an outright victory.

On June 5, the opposition daily Cumhuriyet accused Turkey’s authorities and intelligence agency of helping smuggle ISIL and other Takfiri terrorists into Syria from Turkish soil.

The Turkish daily further revealed in its report that the extremists had been brought to the Turkish border town of Reyhanli in a secret operation in January last year.

According to the newspaper, the Takfiris were smuggled into Tal Abyad, a border town used by the ISIL as a gateway from Turkey, via two buses rented by the country’s National Intelligence Organization, known by its Turkish acronym MIT.

Also on May 29, the newspaper published an online story with images allegedly showing MIT trucks carrying weapons and ammunition to foreign-backed militants inside Syria.

The paper has accused the administration of Erdogan of covering up arms shipments to militants fighting the Syrian government, a claim the president vehemently denies.

Erdogan has filed a complaint against the newspaper for publishing the report and images.

Since March 2011, foreign-backed militant groups have been wreaking havoc in Syria, making efforts to topple the government of the country.

RS/MHB/AS


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