Turkey: No longer ‘realistic’ to exclude Al Assad from deal

Turkey said yesterday it was no longer “realistic” to insist on a solution to the Syria conflict without President Bashar Al Assad. Ankara acknowledged last year that Al Assad is an actor in Syria but it is the first time a senior Turkish official has openly said it would be unrealistic to insist on the embattled leader’s departure for any solution.

“We have to be pragmatic, realistic. The facts on the ground have changed dramatically,” Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek told a panel on Syria at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Al Assad. It is not realistic.”

Turkey, a vocal critic of Al Assad, has backed Syrian opposition rebels fighting for his ouster since the complex conflict began with anti-government demonstrations in March 2011.

“As far as our position on Al Assad is concerned, we think that the suffering of Syrian people and tragedies clearly... the blame is squarely on Al Assad,” Simsek said.

Turkey, together with Russia and Iran, are convening talks this week in the Kazakh capital Astana to shore up a ceasefire in Syria.

At Davos, Simsek said there had to be “a beginning in Astana” to make sure the conflict stops.

“For now at least the fighting has stopped, it is very, very critical because that is the beginning of anything else. The process is to make sure that we translate the current lull into a more lasting ceasefire initially, and then of course talk about more mundane stuff, settling the conflict.”