Erdogan: Turkey does not seek removal of Assad in Syria

 

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, declared on Friday that his country does not favour Bashar al-ouster.  He told journalists travelling with him to Ukraine, "We don't have such an issue whether to defeat Assad or not.”

"There is a war against terrorism in all the efforts we have made with Russians in northern Syria and the east and west of the Euphrates."

 Erdogan said Turkey will need to take "further steps" with Damascus to put an end to the "games" being played in the area after a week of speculation that normalization with the government of the Syrian president may be in the works.

He continued by saying that Turkey could not completely sever diplomatic ties with the Syrian regime.

You must acknowledge that you cannot sever diplomatic and political ties between nations, he said. There ought to be such conversations often.

The Turkish leader claimed that while he likewise desired to cooperate with Tehran in Syria, he was unable to do so because "Iran has other plans as we see them."

Erdogan has been implying for weeks that a military operation by Turkey to drive out extremist Syrian Kurds from regions near Tal Rifaat and Manbij is imminent. He reiterated on Friday that Ankara was prepared to start the offensive.

He continued by saying that he discussed the matter with Russian President Vladimir Putin and informed him that the Assad regime has been funding the Syrian Kurdish armed factions through oil trade between Qamishli, which is under Kurdish control, and Damascus.

Erdogan declared, "The regime is the source of the money." "We no longer want to put off solving this problem. We do not look toward Syrian territory. Our brothers are the Syrian people.

While the frontlines have remained largely static since 2019 thanks to a Turkish-Russian-brokered truce, UN-led peace talks focused on writing a new constitution have faltered.

Erdogan expressed his optimism that the demands of the Syrian people will be met as soon as a new constitution was drafted.

We don't take in four million Syrian refugees to be at war with the regime all the time, he remarked. "We welcome them because of our connections to the Syrian people, particularly through religion. We anticipate that moving forward, the procedure will be advantageous to all.

Ankara is coming under increasing domestic pressure to improve ties with Damascus. Every day, the Turkish opposition makes more and more appeals for peace between Turkey and Syria as the public's attitude toward the almost four million Syrian refugees living there worsens.

When the Syrian government forcefully suppressed protests in 2011 and ignited a civil war that is still raging and is estimated to have claimed 500,000 lives, it became an international pariah.

According to UN statistics, Syria continues to have the largest internal and external displacement crises in the world, with 6.8 million refugees and 6.2 million internally displaced persons.

However, numerous Arab nations, most notably the UAE, have reestablished ties with Damascus in recent years. Many have urged the Arab League to accept Syria back. In the meantime, Washington has had direct discussions with Syrian authorities in an effort to reach agreements and secure Austin Tice's release.