Turkey renews its position on the Syrian president and his future in unifying and governing the country
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavushoglu said Saturday that sanctions and threatening language are not working with Turkey, and that “the United States should be aware of this point well”.
Cavushoglu’s statement came upon his participation in the 19th Doha Forum in Qatar.
While Cavushoglu stressed that Turkey had good relations with Russia, he pointed out the differing views of the two countries on the issues of Syria, the Crimea and Libya.
He added: “Libya and Syria cannot be a battleground between Turkey and Russia. Yes, there are issues in which the views of Turkey and Russia are incompatible with or opposed to, but you cannot say that Turkey and Russia are competing in these two countries”.
The Turkish minister continued, “We don’t agree with Russia on some issues, but we are working together to reach a permanent solution in Syria”.
In response to a question, has Turkey’s attitude towards Bashar al-Assad’s regime changed or not?
Cawushoglu replied, saying: “Our position is clear, we believe that the person who’s?
More than 500,000 people couldn’t unite the country, therefore, during this period, we believe that the government is illegitimate, but if an appropriate constitution is drawn up to hold democratic and fair elections, then the Syrian people must decide.
He continued, “But we clearly believe that Assad cannot unite the country after what happened in the past ten years”.
On the Turkish “Spring of Peace” process, Cavushoglu stressed that the allegations that the operation seeks a demographic change in northern Syria are nothing but black propaganda, stressing that the terrorist organization “PKK” is the one who made a demographic change in northern Syria Not only ethnic but ideological as well.
He stressed that 350,000 Syrian Kurdish refugees in Turkey, and 200,000 of them still in northern Iraq, cannot return to their areas because the terrorist organization “PKK” has expelled them.
He pointed out that Turkey has not and won’t tolerate human rights violations at any time, denying all allegations against Turkey in this regard.
On the other hand, Turkish presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalen, said in a speech today, Saturday, during a symposium on Syria within the framework of the works of the 19th edition of the “Doha Forum”, that “no one is interested in changing the regime in Syria and exerting enough pressure” for Assad’s departure.
They said that “the last game in this regard passes through the political track,” stressing its importance for resolving the Syrian crisis, pointing in this context to the need for everyone to support the work of the Constitutional Committee.
He explained that it is possible, if the committee produces binding documents under the auspices of the United Nations and the support of the international community, to talk about holding elections in which Syrians vote at home and abroad.
They said that “the international community has not only failed to support the Syrians, but also to find a political solution to the conflict in their country”.
Turkey cut ties with the Syrian government in 2011, against the backdrop of the outbreak of the crisis in the country.
The Turkish President has repeatedly ruled out any negotiations with President Assad, but he said on February 3 that his country is still communicating with the Syrian government, especially at the intelligence level, while Ankara later clarified that this “doesn’t mean recognition of Assad’s legitimacy”.
