Turkey’s leader calls Syria’s Assad ‘advanced terrorist’

ISTANBUL — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared Saturday that Syrian President Bashar Assad was a “more advanced terrorist” than the Islamic State group despite the deadly attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport that Turkish officials blame on IS.

Speaking in the town of Kilis near the border with Syria, Erdogan said the Syrian leader was responsible for the deaths of some 600,000 of his own citizens and was the cause of the war in Syria.

“He is a more advanced terrorist than a terrorist from the PYD or the YPG,” Erdogan said. “He is a more advanced terrorist than Daesh.”

Erdogan was referring to Syrian Kurdish militia, which Ankara accuses of being a terror organization because of their affiliation with Turkey’s Kurdish rebels, and to the IS group by its Arabic name.

Three militants armed with assault rifles and suicide bombs attacked one of the world’s busiest airports on Tuesday night, killing at least 44 people. Although no one has claimed responsibility for the attack, Turkish officials say they think it was the work of IS.

Turkish authorities have detained at least 24 people in raids in several Istanbul neighborhoods over possible connections to the attack. Seventeen other people were detained in the province of Gaziantep.

Erdogan paid an unannounced visit to the airport Saturday, saying a prayer in front of a memorial set up for the victims.

He later flew to Kilis, where the number of Syrian refugees is higher than the local Turkish population. IS militants have attacked the town with cross-border rocket fire, killing 21 people there since January.

Turkey has been accused of long turning a blind eye to jihadi fighters who crossed into Syria from Turkish territory in the hope that they would hasten Assad’s downfall. Turkey has also been accused of not doing enough to fight IS despite allowing the U.S.-led coalition to use an air base for airstrikes against jihadists.