In the firmest message eventually to the embattled Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Abdullah Gül signaled on Wednesday that a fresh transitional government for destroyed Syria will go forth within a couple of weeks.
“Next month or within a few weeks, we’ll ascertain a new initiative in the international arena for a transitional period in Syria that will involve authoritative actors,” Gül stated reporters aboard a plane on the way to Bishkek. He also dismissed suggestions that Assad will stay in power in Syria.
Gül signaled that a consensus among the international community concerning the significant stakeholders will soon come forth without offering further details on this new initiative.
Replying a question concerning the constitution of a safe zone inside Syria, Gül told that Turkey was taking precautionary measures to ensure the refugee migration to Turkey.
“It’s nothing to boast about that the number of the refugees is increasing daily. Turkey is just opening its arms to the ones fleeing. We do not want anyone to abandon their home,” stated Gül, adding Turkey was intimately following the developments in Syria.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu was lately criticised by the Republican People’s Party (CHP) for his proposition for a secure district inside Syria. The CHP declared that the constitution of an illegitimate safe district would bring Turkey and Syria to the threshold of state of war.
Davutoğlu stated on Monday that the UN might need to create a safe district inside Syria to accommodate a arising number of refugees from the fighting there. Davutoğlu added up that Turkey, which already hosts nearly 70,000 Syrians fleeing the 17-month-old revolt against President Assad, might soon be unable to cope with the refugees.
“If the number of refugees in Turkey exceeds 100,000, we’ll run out of space to hold them. We had better hold them in Syria. The UN might establish camps in a secure district within Syria’s borderlines,” stated Davutoğlu.
Turkey is also criticised for its policy on Syria as being questionable. The CHP has criticised the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) for following an unprincipled foreign policy full of contradictions and misestimations, adding up this foreign policy wasn’t only pushing Turkey towards isolationism but also creating tensity and incertitude in its relationships with its most crucial neighbours, including Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Concerning the criticism, Gül declared that Turkey wasn’t the country which brought the situation in Syria to the current point. “We did not want the situation to come to this point. We wished long-standing, controlled and gradual democratic change in Syria. We hoped the Damascus administration would accommodate elections, but when they failed to do so, we warned them,” stated Gül.
“When the regime began to launch a war against its own citizens, we took our side. I conveyed a special message by Davutoğlu to Damascus to keep the situation faway rom reaching this point. It was my last word of advice. We did our best. I do not think that Turkey is going after the wrong policy in Syria,” stated Gül.
When reminded of recent harsh affirmations from Iranian officials, including the country’s chief of General Staff, who has told that “it will be its turn” if Turkey carries on “helping advance the war advocacy policies of the U.S.A. in Syria,” Gül declared that first the General Staff and then Iran had made appeasing affirmations.
