In noting that the US has expressed concern over Turkey buying Russian S-400 defense missiles, Cavusoglu said that Turkey was even more concerned that the US had supported a ''terrorist organization attacking my country'' and alleging that the US had provided 30,000 lorries filled with weapons to ''terrorists''.
The Turkish foreign minister was referring to the US-backed and Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which fought against the Islamic State (IS) in northeastern Syria. The main component in the SDF is the YPG, which has links to the PKK.
The PKK is recognised by the US, EU, and Turkey as a terrorist organization.
Cavusoglu went on to say that Turkey wanted to create a safe zone in Syria as the US had proposed but that the US had not been honest with Turkey since ''three kilometres away'' they had been supporting and training ''YPG terrorists''.
Cavusoglu said that Turkey had proposed a joint group of experts from NATO, the US, and Turkey to assess whether US concerns are legitimate but that nothing had come of the proposal.
On the issue of Syrian refugees, the foreign minister noted that Turkey hosts over 4 million. He added that the refugees had been in Turkey for 7 or 8 years and that Turkey would like them to return to Syria but that the YPG are not allowing this.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, he said, was right to warn that if the EU does not assist Turkey then Turkey will open its borders for refugees wanting to head towards the EU.
The minister said that this was not a threat and that the EU knows that the cost of a refugee in Turkey or Syria is ten times less than one in Europe. He noted that Turkey is not part of the EU but it is part of the European continent and that Turkey had not received any support but had nonetheless complied with an agreement signed in 2016.
Cavusoglu said that when Erdogan had suggested collaborating for a safe return for the refugees, that the EU had refused. The minister added that Turkey does not distinguish between ISIS, the PKK, and the YPG and that it does not have a ''selective approach'' to fighting terrorism. He stressed that though Turkey has been accused of supporting ISIS that this was absolutely false and that ''in Turkey alone we lost 300 civilians''. The minister accused the ''Syrian regime and its supporters'' of allowing rebel fighters to leave Aleppo and support terrorists and said that if Turkey were to leave the area (northern Syria) that terrorists would take its place. Cavusoglu added that Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda, ISIS, and the PKK were all considered terrorist organisations in Turkey and urged a ''political resolution'' that would allow Turkey to hand over the areas under its control in Syria to the Syrian state while ensuring safe repatriation for refugees.
Reporter's code: 50101