UPDATE - Washington Post makes 'terrorist propaganda': Turkey

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS FROM CAVUSOGLU

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's top diplomat lambasted Thursday the U.S.-based Washington Post for making "terrorist propaganda" by publishing an article by Cemil Bayik, a so-called PKK terror group leader.

The article did not fall under the freedom of press and expression, and it is a "terrorist propaganda", Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in a live interview on TRT Haber news channel.

"A head terrorist of the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by many countries, including the U.S., and which has brutally massacred tens of thousands of innocent people -- has brazenly engaged in terrorist propaganda by using The Washington Post," the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

The PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years, resulting in the deaths of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.

On the regime attacks in Idlib, northwestern Syria, Cavusoglu said Russia must keep the Bashar al-Assad regime under control over attacks in the region, mostly targeting the civilians, hospitals and schools.

He said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the current situation in Idlib at last week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

Stressing that radical groups were present in Idlib, Cavusoglu said: "We have been discussing the future of them [radical groups] with Russia, Iran or other actors."

He added that Geir Pedersen, the UN's special envoy for Syria, would visit Damascus in the coming days on the issue of establishing constitutional committee.

Turkey and Russia agreed last September to turn Idlib into a de-escalation zone in which acts of aggression would be expressly prohibited.

The regime, however, has consistently broken the terms of the ceasefire, launching frequent attacks inside the de-escalation zone.

-Turkey purchases S-400 missile system for its defense

Cavusoglu also highlighted that Turkey had officially appealed to Washington to purchase the U.S.-made Patriot missiles when President Donald Trump came to office.

He said that the answer just came to Turkey six months ago, two years after appealing.

"We tried to purchase them [Patriot missiles] for 10 years during the [Barack] Obama term. We weren’t able to get them, but we didn’t receive any response on the Patriots [systems] in the first two years of the Trump administration, either," he added.

He reiterated that the purchase for the Russian S-400 air defense systems were finalized and in the delivery process.

He noted that Turkey wanted to purchase S-400 missile systems to satisfy its defensive needs.

During last week’s G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Trump told him there would be no sanctions against Turkey after it received the S-400 defense systems, which are expected to be delivered later in July.

At the summit, Trump blamed the standoff on then-President Barack Obama's refusal to sell Patriot missiles to Turkey, and said Turkey had not been treated fairly.

Tensions between the U.S. and Turkey have escalated in recent months over Ankara’s purchase of S-400 systems, which Washington said will jeopardize Turkey's role in the F-35 fighter jet program and could trigger sanctions.