Europe has no partner other than Turkey in regional security: PM

Ankara, March 24 (DHA) - Europe’s sole partner in providing security in the region is Turkey, the Turkish prime minister has said, calling on European countries to undertake a serious change in their Syria policy.

“Europe has no partner other than Turkey to provide its regional security. They should see this reality and act accordingly” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said at a party meeting on March 23 in Ankara, while commenting on the deadly terrorist attack in Brussels.

“What lies behind flagrant terrorist attacks in both Europe and Turkey is the international community’s wrong Syria policies” he said, in reference to the approach of Western countries to the Democratic Union Party (PYD) in Syria, which Turkey considers a terrorist organization.

“I call on the West and the entire international community that spoiled the PYD. If our European friends will not be with us to jointly confront terror, the PYD and the PKK will team up with Daesh [the Islamic State IS] and continue to attack Turkey and Europe,” he said.

These saddening incidents should teach everybody the lesson that all terror organizations need to be addressed in the same way, Davutoğlu said. “Those who have been seeking short-term gains by making a ‘your terrorist, my terrorist’ distinction should now see that they will pay big costs in the medium- and long-term.”

Davutoğlu also thanked British daily The Independent, which questioned why Europe had not decided to mourn with Turkey after the deadly Ankara attack in the same way it was doing for Belgium. “I thank Western intellectuals and journalists who question this point. We should continue to ask this question. But it’s very unfortunate that there are still those who can’t question this in Turkey” he added.