Ankara slams Czech president for accusing Turkey of supporting ISIL

ANKARA

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has strongly slammed Czech President Milos Zeman who accused Turkey of allying with ISIL in its fight against Syrian Kurds.

“We strongly condemn the statements at a panel by Czech President Milos Zeman; full of lies and slanders against our country and our president,” Hami Aksoy, the spokesman of the Turkish Foreign Ministry, said in a written statement on March 21.

Zeman, at a panel held in Vintirov province of his country, reportedly accused Turkey of siding with ISIL due to “ideological reasons” and of providing logistical assistance to the group while it stormed Iraq and Syria in the previous years.

“Turkey is contributing to the security of Europe while continuing its firm struggle against various terror organizations. It’s giving an exemplary lesson by hosting the highest number of refugees in the world. Our country neutralized around 4,000 ISIL members through operations conducted with the anti-ISIL coalition as well as the Operation Euphrates Shield,” Aksoy said, adding that these actions yielded the highest casualty on the terror organization.

He also stressed that accusations made by the Czech president do not comply with the traditional and allied relationship between the two countries.