Turkish PM meets Syrian National Council, calls ‘democratic Syria’ ultimate objective

ANKARA

AA Photo

The only solution to the ongoing bloodshed is to create a “democratic Syria,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has said, vowing that Ankara will continue to stand with the Syrian National Council (SNC) as the most legitimate body representing the people of Syria.

“There is always a third and real alternative. This is a democratic Syria. This is the building of a new Syria where all Syrians will live together in peace,” Davutoğlu told the members of the Syrian National Council visiting the Turkish capital.

The group also met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on March 13.

Praising the SNC’s struggle of against all attacks committed by the Bashar al-Assad regime, Davutoğlu said it was the most legitimate representative of the Syrian people.

“We have lost 300,000 of our brothers so far. Up to 5 million of our brothers are now refugees outside Syria. Turkey now hosts 1.7 million Syrians and 300,000 Iraqis. Turkey’s position is clear on this,” he said, underlining that the country would continue to keep its doors open to Iraqis and Syrians fleeing violence.

The Syrian people are now squeezed between the brutality of the al-Assad regime and the brutality of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), Davutoğlu said, adding that the only alternative solution is to achieve a democratic Syria free of these two sources of violence.

“The key country [in the Arab Spring] is Syria. If democracy can be built in Syria and the Syrian revolution can meet the objectives that were set four years ago, not only the Syrian people but all peoples of the Middle East will be influenced by it,” he said.