MHP head Bahçeli slams Russian statement on Turkey over ‘friendly fire’ in Syria

KONYA

DHA photo

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) head Devlet Bahçeli on Feb. 12 slammed a Russian statement on the “friendly fire” in Syria’s al-Bab on Feb. 10 that led to the deaths of three Turkish soldiers, describing it as a “shame.”

“A bomb was dropped from a warplane belonging to Russia and hit a building housing our soldiers. Russia announced that this incident was an accident, but confusing messages from Russia disturbed all of us and made our martyrs turn in their graves. The [Turkish] General Staff statement refuted the Russians’ arguments. The fact that Russia is distorting the incident and trying to burden the Turkish Armed Forces with responsibility lacks goodwill and is ethically problematic,” Bahçeli said at his party’s meeting in the Central Anatolian province of Konya.

“Russia martyrs our soldiers, then it gives a pardon, and then it blames the Turkish military. This is a shame,” he added.

On Feb. 10, Moscow stated that the air strikes were launched based on coordinates provided by the Turkish military, a claim that was later denied by the Turkish General Staff.

The Turkish military announced that its elements had been present at the same location for around 10 days and coordinates had been handed to the Russian Armed Forces attaché in Ankara.