Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Turkish FM: 'What is there to negotiate with Assad?'

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Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu
Turkey's Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu criticised US Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks on the possibility of negotiating with Syrian regime President Bashar Al-Assad to arrange a transition of power.
Çavuşoğlu told reporters yesterday, during a visit to Cambodia: "What is there to negotiate [with Al-Assad]? How will you negotiate with a regime that has killed more than 200,000 people and used chemical weapons? What result have you been able to get from negotiations so far?"
During an interview with CBS News on Sunday, Kerry said: "We have to negotiate in the end. And what we're pushing for is to get him to come and do that, and it may require that there be increased pressure on him of various kinds in order to do that."
Çavuşoğlu said the Assad regime is the root cause of all violence in Syria, stressing that "Syria's transformation needs the current regime out and a new inclusive regime to take charge".
According to Çavuşoğlu, terrorist groups in the region receive support from the Assad regime. He pointed out that international efforts must focus on two major issues in Syria: destroying terrorist groups including ISIS, and toppling the Assad regime to lead to a political transition.

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