Turkey supports a political solution for Syria but retains its “red lines” on the subject of Syrian President Bashar Assad remaining president, a top Turkish ruling party official says.
During a trilateral meeting with Russia and Iran in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, Turkey made clear its “reservations” about Assad having any future role in Syria “after all these deaths,” Mahir Unal, the spokesman of the Justice and Development Party, tells reporters.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, (r), Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, (c), and Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani pose for the media members in Sochi, Russia, November 22. 2017. (Kayhan Ozer/Pool via AP)
Turkey also emphasized at the Sochi meeting, Unal says, that there must be negotiations between Assad and the opposition, which Ankara has supported from the start of Syria’s civil war, now in its seventh year.
“It’s not within the logic of negotiations to have a precise position today on the political solution and on whether the transition will be with or without Assad,” Unal says, adding that Turkey, Russia and Iran would act as “facilitators” in negotiations.
— AP
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