ANKARA
Turkey has condemned a “heinous” Daesh offensive in the Syrian town of Kobani which has left nearly two dozens of people dead and at least 130 others wounded on Thursday.
"We most strongly curse the attack that targeted innocent civilians in Ayn al-Arab," President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said late Thursday in his address during an iftar event in Istanbul.
Ayn al-Arab is the Arabic name of Kurdish populated Kobani town, which was the scene of fierce clashes between Kurdish militia and Daesh militants in September.
Erdogan said Turkey had never turned its back and closed its doors to anyone who needed shelter and saw the state of Turkey as a safe port. "All Syrian citizens who were wounded were brought to our country and around 130 injured are under treatment in our hospitals," Erdogan said.
In response to claims that Daesh militants attacking Kobani crossed through Turkey, Erdogan slammed terrorist organization PKK affiliates for conducting what he said was a slander and smear campaign in the aftermath of the "heinous" attack.
"I want to clearly and transparently express it again: no one has the right to align Turkey with terrorism," said the president, rejecting involvement of any kind with the Thursday's attack in Kobani.
"Those who became an instrument for international lobbies that are Turkey's enemies and for Bashar al-Assad's manipulations should firstly question themselves," he said.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu also denied any involvement from the Turkish territory in the Kobani attack.
"Turkey has revealed a very clear attitude towards Daesh terrorist organization, and all these claims amount to is only slander," Davutoglu said in capital Ankara.
"We have never supported a terrorist organization, helped a tyrant oppress a victim; we have no share in any bloodshed. We always mediate and try to build peace," Davutoglu said.
The prime minister also urged those who spread speculation against Turkey, particularly Selahattin Demirtas, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish HDP, to apologize over their remarks.
Demirtas claimed that Daesh infiltrated Turkish territory to enter Kobani. Turkish leaders and the governor of Turkish Sanliurfa province neighboring Kobani have categorically denied this.
In addition, the spokesperson for the YPG, the military wing of the Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), Redur Halil said Thursday the group did not dispute Turkey’s stance. Turkey considers YPG a terrorist organization.
"The Daesh militants infiltrated into the town from the west and south," Halil told Anadolu Agency in a written statement.
Halil added that the militants entered the town and detonated a bomb-laden vehicle, after which the clashes broke out.
Nearly two dozens of people were killed and at least 130 others wounded as Daesh militants mounted an early-morning attack in Kobani with two bomb-laden vehicles and subsequent clashes between Syrian Kurdish forces and the extremist group.
The ongoing clashes mark the second bout between Kurdish forces and Daesh after the town was overrun by the extremist group last September.
