Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdoğan, expressing mistrust of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
claimed Assad has made a tactical move by pledging peace in order to
manipulate the results of this weekend's key Syria gathering in his
favor.
Damascus has accepted a cease-fire
and six-point peace plan drafted by United Nations and Arab League
special envoy Kofi Annan, his spokesman Ahmed Favzi said on Tuesday.
En route to Tehran after attending a nuclear security conference in Seoul, Erdoğan said Assad is attempting to influence public opinion before the second Friends of Syria meeting in İstanbul on April 1 and ruled out the possibility that the Syrian president is genuine in his promises to quell violence in the country.
“Even though we used to have a close relationship with Assad, he hasn't stuck to the promises [to make democratic reforms] he repeatedly made to us. Making promises is one of his frequently used tactics,” Erdoğan said.
“Before the UN meetings, Arab League meetings and the first Friends of Syria meeting, he [Assad] made similar promises and wanted to have an influence on the decisions of those meetings. Now, he is trying to influence the results of the İstanbul [Friends of Syria] meeting in a tactical move. However, I don't believe him. If only he was sincere,” Erdoğan maintained.
The Foreign Ministry also has expressed similar caution for Assad's compromise. “We hope that Assad's decision [to accept Annan's plan] will not turn out to be an act to buy time [to conduct more violence],” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal.
Syrian National Council (SNC) leader Burhan Ghalioun, speaking from İstanbul, assessed Assad's recent move as a strategy to divert attention from the ongoing violence in Syria and to cover up new assaults in the country.
Syrian opposition groups convened in İstanbul on Tuesday to seek a common front for their year-old uprising against Assad.
Meanwhile, conflicts sprang up on Tuesday on Syria's Lebanese border, vindicating Turkey and the Syrian opposition's suspicions of Assad's motives.
While Assad visited the besieged Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs as a show of good intention to end violence, Syrian troops advanced into north Lebanon, destroying farm buildings and clashing with Syrian rebels, residents said.
Annan's six-point plan includes a number of appeals to the Syrian regime, such as ensuring an immediate UN-supervised truce between the regime and the opposition forces, intensifying the pace and scale of the release of arbitrarily detained persons and allowing the freedom of movement for journalists across the country.
In a retaliatory move to the closure of Turkey's embassy in Damascus on Monday, the Syrian regime has recalled a significant number of its diplomatic staff in Turkey to Syria. Many Syrian diplomatic personnel are preparing to leave Turkey, Turkish media outlets have reported.
Mounzer Mounzer, Syria's ambassador to Turkey, is also expected to return to Syria soon. Syria will downgrade its diplomatic representation to the level of junior chargé d'affaires in reaction to Turkey's move to cut diplomatic relations, according to reports.
Ömer Önhon, Turkey's ambassador to Syria, has already returned to Turkey after being recalled by the Turkish government.
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=275679
En route to Tehran after attending a nuclear security conference in Seoul, Erdoğan said Assad is attempting to influence public opinion before the second Friends of Syria meeting in İstanbul on April 1 and ruled out the possibility that the Syrian president is genuine in his promises to quell violence in the country.
“Even though we used to have a close relationship with Assad, he hasn't stuck to the promises [to make democratic reforms] he repeatedly made to us. Making promises is one of his frequently used tactics,” Erdoğan said.
“Before the UN meetings, Arab League meetings and the first Friends of Syria meeting, he [Assad] made similar promises and wanted to have an influence on the decisions of those meetings. Now, he is trying to influence the results of the İstanbul [Friends of Syria] meeting in a tactical move. However, I don't believe him. If only he was sincere,” Erdoğan maintained.
The Foreign Ministry also has expressed similar caution for Assad's compromise. “We hope that Assad's decision [to accept Annan's plan] will not turn out to be an act to buy time [to conduct more violence],” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Selçuk Ünal.
Syrian National Council (SNC) leader Burhan Ghalioun, speaking from İstanbul, assessed Assad's recent move as a strategy to divert attention from the ongoing violence in Syria and to cover up new assaults in the country.
Syrian opposition groups convened in İstanbul on Tuesday to seek a common front for their year-old uprising against Assad.
Meanwhile, conflicts sprang up on Tuesday on Syria's Lebanese border, vindicating Turkey and the Syrian opposition's suspicions of Assad's motives.
While Assad visited the besieged Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs as a show of good intention to end violence, Syrian troops advanced into north Lebanon, destroying farm buildings and clashing with Syrian rebels, residents said.
Annan's six-point plan includes a number of appeals to the Syrian regime, such as ensuring an immediate UN-supervised truce between the regime and the opposition forces, intensifying the pace and scale of the release of arbitrarily detained persons and allowing the freedom of movement for journalists across the country.
Syria to recall its Turkish envoy
Syrian-Turkish relations seem to have chilled further after Turkey withdrew its ambassador in Damascus.In a retaliatory move to the closure of Turkey's embassy in Damascus on Monday, the Syrian regime has recalled a significant number of its diplomatic staff in Turkey to Syria. Many Syrian diplomatic personnel are preparing to leave Turkey, Turkish media outlets have reported.
Mounzer Mounzer, Syria's ambassador to Turkey, is also expected to return to Syria soon. Syria will downgrade its diplomatic representation to the level of junior chargé d'affaires in reaction to Turkey's move to cut diplomatic relations, according to reports.
Ömer Önhon, Turkey's ambassador to Syria, has already returned to Turkey after being recalled by the Turkish government.
http://www.todayszaman.com/newsDetail_getNewsById.action?newsId=275679
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