Turkey: 'Who will you side with, with terrorists?' - Erdogan to NATO members

W/S Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan entering press conference, Istanbul
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): "Dear friends, for sure there are lots of rumours going around at the moment. However, especially through the embassy, and with Russia's positive approach to the subject, it looks like there won't be a problem in Kobane. About Manbij, we are at a stage where we are applying our decision. As you know, our mutual agreement with the US on Manbij is that terrorist organisations were going to clear Manbij in ninety days. However the year is over and Manbij is not cleared. When Manbij is cleared, we, as Turkey, will not enter there. The real owners are our Arab brothers. The owners are tribes, and we had meetings with them. They will go there and our approach on that topic, is to ensure they go there and to ensure their security." *NO CUTAWAY AT SOURCE*
SOT, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkish President (Turkish): "I spoke with Chancellor Merkel yesterday, and the day before that I spoke with Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister. In those conversations, I have seen that they unfortunately do not consider a lot of the facts and that they are under a serious pressure of disinformation. Of course I told them these facts. I told them, if you have a sincere approach here, you are in coalition forces, actually we are also in coalition forces. Within these coalition forces, are you looking for the truth or? Of course they are trying to hide something. What? Friends, we are a country that is a NATO ally. Pay attention, all of these countries are NATO members. NATO has an Article 5. We are right now under the pressure of a terrorist organisation, based on that, Article 5, who should they side with? They should stand by us. Will you side with a NATO ally or against NATO, which has a mission against terrorist organisations? Who will you side with, with terrorists? Of course, they cannot answer. And it is not possible to understand the purpose, the goal of the things they are doing."
SCRIPT
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed NATO members for not "standing by" Ankara in their military offensive in north-eastern Syria.
"Who will you side with, with terrorists?" was his question for allies during a press conference in Istanbul on Monday, before his departure to Baku.
"We are right now under the pressure of a terrorist organisation, based on that, Article 5, who should they side with? They should stand by us. Will you side with a NATO ally or against NATO, which has a mission against terrorist organisations?," he asked.
Erdogan mentioned conversations he had in the past days with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and said that they were "under a serious pressure of disinformation."
He added that "it is not possible to understand the purpose, the goal of the things they [NATO members] are doing."
Erdogan also touched on the situation in Syria's Kobane, in the light of a deal struck between Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) to deploy forces in the area, stating that "with Russia's positive approach to the subject, it looks like there won't be a problem."
On October 9, the Turkish president announced the beginning of a military operation in north-eastern Syria dubbed 'Operation Peace Spring’. Ankara says the aim of the Turkish offensive is to create a 'safe zone' cleared of Kurdish groups.