Opposition leader urges gov’t to contact Assad

ANKARA

İyi (Good) Party leader Meral Akşener on Oct. 15 urged the government for dialogue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“Sometimes you have to choose the second-best scenario. There are two options left today. We will either contact Assad and normalize Syria or we will be the audience of the disintegration of Syria. Assad’s conception of governance may be a big problem, you may find it unacceptable, but no scenario is as bloody and democracy-free as a fragmented Syria,” she said, speaking at her party’s parliamentary group.

Making peace in Syria depends on Turkey contacting Assad, she suggested. Akşener said Turkey should take this decision “before it’s too late.”

She said that no scenario is against the national interests of Turkey more than being surrounded by U.S. and Russian bases.

When Ankara opens up that dialogue, there will be no problems in Syria and the threat to Turkey will be reduced, she said.

Akşener said Turkey’s Syria policy should be staging a “struggle in cooperation with the Syrian state for Syria’s territorial integrity against those dividing Syria.”

Akşener emphasized that the only way to get Syrian refugees back to their countries is to get in touch with Assad.

She also criticized the government for being silent about the U.S. sanctions.

Addressing President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Akşener pointed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats for sanctions and said, “As said by the late İsmet İnönü, being in a relationship with the big states is like going to bed with one of the bears. One of the bears that you are in bed with is threatening us with sanctions, Mr. Erdoğan.”