All You Need To Know About Turkey: Turkish Foreign Minister Defends Islamic State Against Accusations of Terrorism

From the Rojava Report:

The Foreign Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu defended the Islamic State of Iraq and Sham (ISIS) from accusations of terrorism, blaming instead the governments of Iraq and Syria for the current violence in the region, according to a report from Özgür Gündem. 

The comments came in the wake of an ISIS offensive in Iraqi Kurdistan over the past five days which has displaced hundreds of thousands and amid widespread reports that ISIS fighters were committing atrocities again Yezidi, Christian and Shia civilians in the region.  

The Foreign Minister made the comments on a television program in which he seemingly defended ISIS from the “terrorist” or “radical” label. 

Davutoğlu told viewers that “a structure such as ISIS can seem like a radical or terrorist structure but there are different groups involved. There are Sunni Arabs, there are a significant amount of Turkmens.” 

He went on to add that while many were quick to point the finger at ISIS the Syrian and Iraqi regimes were the real cause of the trouble, saying “If Sunni Arabs had not been excluded in Iraq, the provinces of Mosul and Anbar would not be in such a rage today. 

Like in Syria if there had not been a government of a group representing 12% of society then it would not have been like this and these things would not have happened. There is a community whose rage has built up to a considerable extent.”