Turkey's prime minister accuses Russia of attempting 'ethnic cleansing' in Syria


On Wednesday, Turkey's prime minister said that Russian airstrikes are "strengthening" the Islamic State and targeting people who "do not have good relations with the [Syrian] regime."
Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in Istanbul that the airstrikes are hitting "Turkmen and Sunni populations," and "Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing [happen] in the northern Latakia" region. Russia and Turkey have been at odds since Turkey shot down a Russian warplane along the Syrian border; Turkey said the plane violated its airspace, a claim Russia denies. Russia says its airstrikes have targeted jihadist groups like ISIS, but Syrian rebels say they are really targeting groups that are against President Bashar al-Assad, a Russian ally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared on television with the downed plane's flight recorder, BBC News reports, and said "whatever we learn won't change our attitude to what the Turkish authorities did. We used to treat Turkey not only as our friend but also as an ally in the fight against terrorism. Nobody expected this low, treacherous stab in the back."
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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