Turkey's Erdogan urges no distinction between terror groups

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday called on the international community not to make a distinction between terrorist organizations.

"Making distinctions between good and bad terrorist means supporting terrorism," the president said in his opening speech delivered at a meeting on Somalia in Istanbul.

He noted that Turkey does not differentiate between terror groups like al-Shabab, Islamic State (IS), al-Nusra, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Syria's Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing People's Protection Units (YPG).

He urged all countries to embrace the same point of view for an "effective" counter-terrorism and to stand united against terrorism and countries that support it.

Washington's insistence on continued support for the PYD and YPG and its refusal to brand them as terror groups, as demanded by Ankara, has infuriated Erdogan and other top Turkish officials.

The U.S. regards YPG as a force that has been effecitve in helping fight against the IS in Syria, while Turkey sees its link to PKK, a group that it is fighting in the southeast and listed as a terrorist organization as well by the U.S. and the European Union.

In his speech, Erdogan also stated that Syria has transformed into a country that exports terrorism.

He said that during the last 10 days over 600 people have lost their lives in war-torn Syria, in developments that have triggered a new wave of refugees.

"This provides a convenient environment for the growth of terror organizations," he said. Endit