Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a fierce critic of Bashar al-Assad, on Thursday suggests for the first time that the Syrian president could have a role to play in a future political transition.
“The process could possibly be without Assad, or the transitional process could be with him,” Erdogan tells reporters after Eid prayers in Istanbul, when asked about a possible solution to Syria’s four-year civil war.
But “nobody envisages a future with Assad in Syria,” Erdogan adds, saying it was “impossible for them (Syrians) to accept a dictator who has led to the deaths of up to 350,000 people.”
Erdogan’s remarks, which came a day after he held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of Assad, mark a shift from the Turkish leader’s previous insistence that the Syrian leader relinquish power.
His remarks chimed with a comment earlier by German Chancellor Angela Merkel after a summit on the refugee crisis fueled by the Syrian war.
“We have to speak with many actors, this includes Assad, but others as well,” Merkel says.
— AFP
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