By Emin Avundukluoglu
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey's opposition Good (IYI) Party leader criticized Tuesday government's foreign policy, saying diplomacy should be pursued irrespective of personal friendships.
"Since you think Putin has no business in Syria, why did you sign an agreement covering joint patrol [in Syria with Russia]?" Meral Aksener asked while addressing her party's parliamentary group.
She said that diplomacy should be void of personal friendships, claiming President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is taking decisions at his "sweet will".
"Leave the gossip session with your friends... understand that the country's priorities form the basis of foreign policy," Aksener said.
Her remarks come a day ahead of Erdogan's visit to Moscow on March 5.
Ankara on Sunday launched Operation Spring Shield after 34 Turkish soldiers were martyred in Idlib, the last stronghold of opposition forces in Syria.
They were working to protect local civilians under a September 2018 deal with Russia, which prohibits acts of aggression in northwestern Syria.
However, Assad and Russian forces in the de-escalation zone continue to violate the cease-fire, sending about a million refugees towards Turkey's border with Syria since last December.
Turkey is already hosting close to 4 million Syrian refugees as well as migrants from other countries such as Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan.