Syrian minister accuses Turkey of being one of region’s ‘main sponsors of terror’

Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem accused Turkey of being “one of the main sponsors of terror” in his country and the region on Saturday, Associated Press reported.

Al-Moallem said during the high-level meeting of the U.N. General Assembly that “the Turkish regime reigns supreme” when it comes “to sponsors and financiers of terrorism,” according to AP.

He also said Turkey is guilty of “a war crime and a crime against humanity” for cutting off water to a number of Syrian provinces.

Turkey and Turkish-backed Syrian groups have been repeatedly accused of cutting off water to the areas controlled by the Kurdish-led local government.

Most recently, Turkey has cut off water to the northern Syrian province of Hasakah and is controlling the region’s supply via the Alouk water station in the Turkish-controlled Syrian border town of Ras al-Ayn.

Al-Moallem also accused Turkey of moving “terrorists and mercenaries from Syria to Libya,” violating Iraq’s sovereignty, using refugees “as bargaining chips against Europe” and laying claim “by force to energy resources in the Mediterranean,” AP said.

“The current Turkish regime has become a rogue and outlaw regime under international law,” AP cited the Syrian minister as saying.

“It ’s shameful and unacceptable that the murderous Syrian regime which lost its legitimacy long ago continues to misuse (the) U.N. General Assembly general debate to distort the facts,” AP cited a Turkey’s U.N. mission spokesperson, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as saying.

He said Turkey “rejects Syrian regime’s delusional statement, ridden with ludicrous allegations, in its entirety.”