On Wednesday, Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan condemned the group Islamic State, not for its butchering of Christians, but only because it upset his dreams of a united global Muslim community. Erdogan, who is utterly hostile to the state of Israel, said Islamic State “is an important virus that is working to divide and destroy the ummah,” the word used by Muslims for a unified global Muslim community.

Erdogan made his remarks after a meeting with Iraqi President Fouad Massoum. Referring to Islamic State as “Daesh,” Erdogan added, “An international strategy is essential to drain this swamp. Even if Daesh is destroyed something will emerge under a different name … Where do its weapons and financing come from? We need to focus on this.” He said Turkey was doing “its best” to stop Islamic State; he called it a threat to the “whole world."\

Massoum used the same terminology, asserting, “This virus can pass from this region to other regions. The countries in the region have serious responsibilities.” The Turkish government has vehemently denied accusations that it previously helped Islamic State as it targeted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom Erdogan despises; Ankara has said the West doesn’t understand how difficult it is for Turkey to border Syria; Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey an d tried to stop terrorists from entering the country but that was problematic because of Syrian refugees fleeing to Turkey in addition to “30-40 million tourists” a year.

The Arab news website Al-Watan Al-Arabi (Arabic link) reported in January that Turkish media sources asserted that Erdogan was nervous that the West would investigate his relationship with Islamic State. The sources said he instructed his ally, Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s intelligence service, to destroy evidence linking him to Islamic State.