Political solution needed after US' Syria strike: Turkish FM

ANTALYA - Anadolu Agency

Turkey's foreign minister said on April 8 that in the absence of strong follow-up efforts, the U.S. missile strike on Syrian regime base could amount to nothing but a “cosmetic" move that accomplishes little. 

In a speech in the Mediterranean city of Antalya, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, "The ideal solution is a political solution." 

"If this stays with just one airbase, if this regime can’t be removed from Syria, it will stay a merely cosmetic intervention,” Çavuşoğlu said. 

"The ideal solution is a political solution, and we need to implement a transitional government in Syria as soon as possible." 

"Hopefully stability and peace will come back to Syria, and Turkey will play a major role in that," Turkey's top diplomat said. 

"The world, in these recent events, began to understand what we meant by calling for safe zones." 

Çavuşoğlu's remarks came after the U.S. early on April 7 fired as many as 60 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian military airbase American officials believe was used to carry out a deadly suspected chemical attack.