Erdogan: "We could never take sides with Assad"

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan once again lashed out at Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Aug. 26, saying that Turkey could never take sides with a person who has gassed innocent civilians. Speaking in a rally of supporters in northeastern province of Rize, Erdogan said that we are experiencing an extraordinary case. "More than 100,000 people have been killed in Syria. Where is the international community? Where is the U.N. Security Council? No sound from them. When we talked, then they say what is to you? Why do you talk? I speak on behalf of my people … You told us to go forward to alleviate the sufferings of the Syrian people, and we are going forward," Erdogan said, adding, "So do we stand by the murderer al-Assad and his supporters? We believe that giving consent to the killing of one person means giving consent to the killing of all of humanity. Consequently, we couldn't allow that." Erdogan also noted that a total of $2 billion has been spent on Syrian refugees and that the country was now hosting 500,000 Syrian refugees on Turkish soil.