Turkey, six countries voice concerns over Russia’s military actions in Syria

ANKARA, October 2. /TASS/. Turkey, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have called on Russia to focus its efforts on fighting the Islamic State (IS) in Syria and to stop "attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians," a joint statement unveiled by Turkey’s Foreign Ministry says. "We express our deep concern with regard to the Russian military build-up in Syria," the English-language statement posted on the ministry’s website on Thursday says. "These military actions constitute a further escalation and will only fuel more extremism and radicalization," it says. "We call on the Russian Federation to immediately cease its attacks on the Syrian opposition and civilians and to focus its efforts on fighting ISIL." Russia launched airstrikes against the Islamic State (IS) positions in Syria on Wednesday at the request of President Bashar Assad. Russia’s upper house unanimously gave President Vladimir Putin approval to use the Russian Armed Forces abroad earlier that day. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the Russian aerospace forces were targeting the Islamic State, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist groups in Syria. Lavrov said that the US-led coalition was also targeting the Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra."We have the same approach," Lavrov said. Read more