Damascus, March 3 (IANS): Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of supporting extremist groups in Syria, media reported.

Assad charged that Erdogan undertook "destructive polices that don't serve the peoples" and supported the "takfiri, extremist powers to please his masters and to implement their schemes", Xinhua news agency reported the state-run SANA news service.

The remarks by Assad were made during his meeting with a number of visiting Turkish politicians from Turkish opposition parties.

Meanwhile, Assad said fighting terrorism could not only be done by fighting the terrorists, but by heaping pressure on the countries supporting them in order to make such countries change their policies to establish a real cooperation to rid the region of the rampant terrorism.

For its part, the Turkish delegation said the battle against terrorism waged by Syria was the main factor to protect the region from defragmentation, noting that "the majority of Turkish people still believe in the fraternal relations with Syria and reject Erdogan's involvement in supporting terrorism in Syria".

It was not the first time that Assad and his government lashed out at the Turkish government under Erdogan's leadership and accused them of supporting radical groups, whose members, at least the foreigners, are believed to have infiltrated into Syria through Turkey.