Turkey vows to defend interests in Syria despite domestic situation

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday that Turkey will defend its interests in northern Syria despite of internal problems, NTV reported.

"We are aware of everything that will make a fait accomplishment, which will endanger our perpetuity in Syria and Iraq, despite the internal affairs," Erdogan said while addressing representatives of Islamic civic organizations.

The president referred to advance of Syrian Kurds that seized control of the Syrian town of Manbij from the Islamic State (IS) last week with other U.S.-backed forces.

Turkey views the Kurdish militias in Syria as a hostile force, an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and rejects de facto autonomy of the group in northern Syria.

Erdogan also criticized western countries and institutions of not showing solidarity with Turkey after the July 15 coup attempt.

World leaders gathered in Paris after attacks in France, but failed to visit Turkey following the coup, the Turkish president stated.

Other than a few exceptions, Muslim states also failed to give support to Ankara, he added.

Erdogan also slammed western countries over attacks of the IS, which is not a representative of Islamic world.

"Nobody can associate terror with Islam which is a religion," the president stated. "Islamic world has become bazaar of arms dealers."

Not fear but hostility towards Islam has emerged in the Western world, he added.

The failed coup attempt killed at least 290 people, including more than 100 "coup plotters."

The Turkish government claimed the failed coup was organized by followers of Fethullah Gulen, a U.S.-based cleric. Endit