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Turk PM accuses Russia of Syrian "ethnic cleansing"

Turkey’s prime minister has accused Russia of attempting “ethnic cleansing” through its air campaign in northern Syria.
Ahmet Davutoglu told a group of foreign reporters in Istanbul on Wednesday that Russia’s operations have targeted Turkmen and Sunni communities around the Latakia region.
He said Russia’s action could force “many more millions” of people to flee.
Davutoglu said: “Russia is trying to make ethnic cleansing in northern Latakia.”
Davutoglu also renewed a call for the creation of a safe zone in Syria “so that new waves (of refugees) will not come.”
Turkey insisted it was not dependent on Russia to build its first nuclear power plant amid uncertainty over the $20 billion project.
Russia’s state atomic agency Rosatom began constructing the plant in Akkuyu in the southern Mersin province on the shores of the Mediterranean in April.
But the Kremlin has refused to emphatically commit to the project’s future after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, prompting Moscow to impose selected economic sanctions on Ankara.
“We need to clearly say that just as we are not dependent on one door for trade, Turkey is not a prisoner of one country’s technology regarding its nuclear plants,” Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said.
“We know that there are many countries, many companies that are ready to respond to Turkey’s demands.”
Akkuyu is the first of three nuclear power plants Turkey currently plans to build to reduce its dependence on importing energy from oil and gas exporters like Russia and Iran.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi said on Monday that most of the oil produced in Daesh territory in Iraq and Syria was being smuggled through Turkey.
In a meeting with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday, Abadi “stressed the importance of stopping oil smuggling by the terrorist gangs of Daesh, most of which is smuggled through Turkey,” according to a statement posted on his website.