NALCHIK, November 29. /TASS/. Russia’s military police in the area of the Turkish-Syrian border see the Kurds’ support, because it is clear for everyone that the Russian military’s mission there is to provide protection, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting of Russia’s Nationalities Relations Council on Friday.
In his opinion, "at least some positive achievements" that have materialized on the border between Syria and Turkey "rely on the Kurds’ support and their interests."
"The people understand this. They display a kind-hearted approach towards us, even love," Putin said. In all communities the Russian military police that patrol the Turkish-Syrian border "see a very kind attitude of the Kurdish population, because the people there see and understand that the Russian army is there to protect them. This is a hard fact."
At the session the co-chairman of the council of the federal ethnic and cultural autonomy of Russia’s Kurds, Farkhat Patiyev, complained that experts on one of the federal television channels insulted the Kurdish people and set different ethnic groups against each other.
"They are not officials, they do not represent the authorities," Putin said. "They do not express the viewpoint of either the television broadcaster or Russia’s authorities."
Putin recalled that Russia is home to many Kurds and has always had very kind and friendly relations with this people.
"I’ve no idea of what kind of nonsense somebody might’ve said. But I believe that all people should have enough common sense to understand that this has nothing to do with the official position of the Russian authorities," he concluded.