In a Friday interview, Bill Jones pointed to Turkey’s measures against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying that Turkey will “suffer” the consequences of its actions.
Jones said Ankara’s support for militancy in Syria has exacerbated the unrest across the Arab nation, and warned of a potential spillover of unrest from Syria’s Kurdish regions into Turkey.
“I see no upsides to the direction that the Turkish government has taken,” he added.
Jones noted that Turkey’s “full support” for the foreign-backed crisis in Syria has “created a tinderbox in the entire region which could light a fire, which would be hard for anybody to put out.”
Turkey has persistently served as a major supply line and safe haven for the foreign-sponsored militants in Syria.
In early August, Premier Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President Barack Obama once again expressed their support for the Syrian opposition.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since 2011. According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and millions of others displaced in the violence.
According to reports, Western powers and their regional allies, especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
ASH/HMV