Turkey supports political solution but not Assad as leader of Syria
Ankara retains its 'red lines' on the subject of Syrian regime leader Bashar al Assad remaining in power, Turkish governing party spokesman says.
Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, center, flanked by Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, and Chief of Staff Gen. Hulusi Akar, left, sit during a meeting with Russia's President Vladimir Putin and Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, in Sochi, Russia, Wednesday.
A top AK Party official has stated that Ankara supports a political solution for Syria but retains its "red lines" on the subject of Syria's Bashar al Assad remaining in power.
Mahir Unal, the spokesman of the AK Party, says that during a trilateral meeting with Russia and Iran that took place in the Black Sea resort of Sochi on Wednesday, Turkey made clear its reservations about Assad having any future role in Syria "after all these deaths."
"The upcoming process is a transitory period aiming to bring clarity on Assad [remaining in office], through negotiations," Unal said in a press briefing.
"Assad cannot remain on the scene as a political actor after the transition period," he added.
Turkey also wants Syria to remain united and not break up, and opposes the YPG-dominated SDF participating in negotiations on Syria's future.
Earlier on Wednesday while attending a trilateral summit in Sochi, Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara cannot share a platform with any terrorist organisation.
"The exclusion of terrorist elements - that target both Syrian political unity and territorial integrity, and our country - from the process, will be among our priorities as Turkey," he said.
The YPG/PYD is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK group which is recognised as a terrorist organisation by Ankara, Washington and the EU.
The PKK has waged a deadly armed campaign against the Turkish state since 1980s that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.
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