The Syrian conflict will continue as long as Bashar Assad is in power in the country. He needs to be removed from the presidential post and put in his place an "ideal candidate". Such a peacekeeping program was presented by the President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In an interview with Western journalists, quoted from the Daily Mail, the Turkish leader called his Syrian counterpart the root cause of all troubles in the Middle East region. "As long as Assad remains in power, the peace process has no prospects. Syria needs to be freed from Assad in order to resolve the conflict. He attacked his people with tanks, cannons, "barrel bombs," chemical weapons, fighter jets. Do you think that after all this he can help in the search for a peaceful solution? "- said Erdogan.
The head of Turkey assures that the generally accepted opinion that Russian President Vladimir Putin defends Assad is erroneous. According to Erdogan, the Russian leader personally told him about it. "Do not misunderstand me. I'm not a supporter of Assad, I'm not his lawyer, "the Turkish president said Putin's words.
Erdogan believes that such statements about Assad testify to the weakening of the support of the ruling regime in Syria on the part of Russia. The positions of Turkey and the Russian Federation over the Syrian conflict vary greatly, besides Moscow is closed from all: Putin has developments in Syria that "he can not share". However, at this stage, the interests of all active participants - the United States, Iran, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Russia - coincided: only through joint efforts these countries can make the right decision with regard to Syria. "We can be together, and we can help the people of Syria," Erdogan said..
On the removal of Assad from power, he intends to talk not only with Putin, but also with US President Donald Trump. "With the new administration (the US) we will talk about these aspects, and we are going to suggest that they take the next step to determine the fate of Syria, the people of this country," said the politician.
Another common misconception about Syria, according to Erdogan, is the view that the only alternative to Assad are the jihadists from the IG. "Assad killed thousands of people, and now I have 3 million refugees in Turkey, another 1.5 million are in Lebanon and about 1 million in Jordan. The only reason for this is Assad. We can no longer talk about the decision together with Assad, all our efforts will be in vain, so we must give the people of Syria a new leader. There are many ideal candidates who can become the new leader of Syria, "concluded the Turkish president.. However, he did not list "ideal candidates" by name.
The Kremlin agreed with Erdogan's assertion that Putin does not protect Assad. "The phrase that Putin is not Assad's lawyer is not new, and she was not first told in a telephone conversation with President Erdogan. Putin said this phrase earlier in a series of interviews, "- said the spokesman of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov.
He also said that the Russian president is "an advocate of international law and a defender of international law" and defends a position that does not allow decisions on the future of a country by third countries. "The future of Syria can not be determined either in Ankara, Washington, Paris, Berlin, Moscow. Syria's Self-Determination Only Behind the Syrian People. And here about any changes in the approach of speech can not go, "- concluded the representative of the Kremlin.
The Russian authorities have more than once pointed to the fact that the issue of the future of Assad should be resolved by the citizens of Syria.
In Ankara and Washington they continue to say that it is the withdrawal of the Syrian president that is the main condition for resolving the situation in the country.
Meanwhile, the complicating factor in the Syrian conflict was the Turkish Air Force. They struck at positions of Kurds in the north of Syria and in Iraq. As a result, more than 30 people were killed, dozens were injured. According to representatives of the Pentagon, Russian officials called their American colleagues to try to dissuade the Turks from such actions, but in Ankara all the exhortations were ignored.