Turkey Rules Out Talks With Syria
31 Oct 2012 1:01 AM GMT
Turkey is ruling out any dialogue with the Syrian regime, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said today, a day after Moscow called for negotiations with Damascus as the only way to end the escalating conflict.
“There is no point in engaging in dialogue with a regime that continues to carry out such a massacre against its own people, even during (the Muslim festival of) Eid al-Adha,” Davutoglu said at a news conference.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the West and regional players including Turkey to start negotiating with President Bashar al-Assad as well as the opposition to pave the way for a political solution in Syria, wracked by almost 20 months of conflict. “Hardly anything will be accomplished without dialogue with the government, and that is the only problem that remains in the path towards a political process,” Lavrov said after a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international peace envoy for Syria.
Davutoglu said that dialogue with Damascus would be a step that could “be legitimising the existing regime as the violence continues”.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, one-time ally of President Bashar al-Assad, fell out with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent that erupted in March last year. Turkey has since then sheltered some 108,000 refugees fleeing the conflict, as well as the exiled Syrian opposition’s military and political leaderships.
“There is no point in engaging in dialogue with a regime that continues to carry out such a massacre against its own people, even during (the Muslim festival of) Eid al-Adha,” Davutoglu said at a news conference.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called on the West and regional players including Turkey to start negotiating with President Bashar al-Assad as well as the opposition to pave the way for a political solution in Syria, wracked by almost 20 months of conflict. “Hardly anything will be accomplished without dialogue with the government, and that is the only problem that remains in the path towards a political process,” Lavrov said after a meeting with Lakhdar Brahimi, the international peace envoy for Syria.
Davutoglu said that dialogue with Damascus would be a step that could “be legitimising the existing regime as the violence continues”.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government, one-time ally of President Bashar al-Assad, fell out with Damascus after its deadly crackdown on popular dissent that erupted in March last year. Turkey has since then sheltered some 108,000 refugees fleeing the conflict, as well as the exiled Syrian opposition’s military and political leaderships.
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