MHP leader suggests contact with Assad after Sisi

ANKARA

The Turkish government should establish contact with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) has suggested.

“The contact our President established with Egyptian President el-Sisi is a right move and more should come. It should continue with a meeting with Syrian Arab Republic President Bashar al-Assad and a joint will against terror organizations should be built,” MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli said in his weekly address to his parliamentary group on Nov. 22.

Bahçeli referred to a surprise shaking hands between President Erdoğan and Egyptian leader el-Sisi in Qatar where both men attended the opening match of the World Cup on Nov. 20. Both Ankara and Cairo said this first encounter meant to launch a new process for repairing strained bilateral ties over the past decade.

“Türkiye has historically very strong ties with Egypt, Syria and Iraq. If we don’t start direct talks with them then the spoilers will try to drive a further wedge between [Türkiye and these countries],” Bahçeli said.

He also underlined that developing constructive, positive and sincere dialogues with the neighboring countries is in line with Türkiye’s 2023 vision. Bahçeli is the main political ally of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and has already announced that his party will back the latter’s bid for the presidential polls in 2023.

Recalling that the final communiqué of the G20 Summit has warned of a rising world war risk, Bahçeli said “Despite this, we want peace to be installed in our region and in the world.”

“We want to turn our country into a center of stability. We want to protect our brotherly ties and our independence. We want to make Türkiye a leader country.”