No dialogue with Syria: Davutoğlu

ANKARA - Hürriyet Daily News

There is no point in engaging in dialogue with Syria, Davutoğlu says. DAILY NEWS Photo / Selahattin Sönmez

Turkey has ruled out any dialogue with the Syrian regime, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said on Oct. 30, a day after Moscow called for negotiations with Damascus as the only way to end the escalating conflict.

“There is no point in engaging in dialogue with a regime that continues to carry out such a massacre against its own people, even during [the Muslim festival of] Eid al-Adha [Feast of the Sacrifice],” Davutoğlu said at a joint press conference with his Costa Rican counterpart, Enrique Castillo.

Accusing Damascus of breaking the truce, Davutoğlu said the U.N. Security Council’s failure to deliver a strong message caused the continuation of the Syrian regime’s attacks. The foreign minister said Turkey approved of beginning a transition process as part of the Geneva Agreement but ruled out establishing any dialogue with a regime imposing brutal violence on its own people.

Davutoğlu also said opening a dialogue with Damascus, its one-time ally, would “legitimize the existing regime as the violence continues.”

“What is important now is to promote peace through strong messages,” he added. “Our consultations with Russia continue. We are open to any idea about steps to be taken jointly.”

The Friends of the Syrian People group will likely meet either in November or early December in Morocco, the minister said, adding that work toward reorganizing the Syrian opposition will begin on Nov. 8.

Davutoğlu said all efforts were being made to bring home two Turkish journalists who were arrested and have been held in Syria since September. “We, the Foreign Ministry and the government of the Republic of Turkey, are doing everything necessary to save our journalist brothers.”