In its first propaganda video released since the formation of a U.S.-Turkish military coalition, the Islamic State militant group called for the people of Turkey to rise up and overthrow “Satan,” referring to Turkish President Recep Erdogan.
The video comes a week after the U.S. conducted airstrikes against the terrorist group using manned aircraft launched from a Turkish airbase. Turkey’s foreign minister has said the country will being a “comprehensive battle” against the militants.
The Islamic State’s response video, posted on social media, shows a fighter speaking in Turkish declaring Mr. Erdogan has made Turkey a “slave to the crusaders,” The Independent reported.
“Turkish people: without losing any time you have to rebel against these atheists, crusaders and infidels who have made you slaves,” the man says in the video, according to the Jerusalem Post.
The video, which emerged on Monday, also comes two months after the group launched a Turkish-language magazine with a story titled “The Conquest of Constantinople” on its cover, urging a new Islamic Conquest of Turkey’s biggest city, Istanbul.
Turkey has already carried out three of its own airstrikes against the terrorist group in norther Syria, after one of its soldiers was killed was in a cross-border firefight with the Islamic State.
Many of the group’s new recruits have traveled through Turkey, but Turkey’s new partnership with the U.S. in creating “buffer zones” along the border, is forcing the militants to reevaluate how they import foreign fighters and supplies, according to security experts.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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