Obama calls for Assad's removal

President Barack Obama said Monday that the U.S. is ready to work with any nation, including Russia and Iran, to solve the Syrian crisis, as he called for a new leader in Syria.

"We must recognize that there cannot be, after so much bloodshed, so much carnage, a return to the prewar status quo," he said. "Realism also requires a managed transition away from [Bashar] Assad into a new leader and an inclusive government," Obama said during an address to the UN General Assembly.

Obama is expected to meet separately with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the UN meetings. Syria is expected to be discussed during those meetings. 

While recalling that Bashar al-Assad reacted to peaceful protests by repressing and killing demonstrators – a move that paved the way for civil war in the country – Obama said the Syrian president and his allies cannot simply pacify the majority of a population who have been driven away by chemical weapons and barrel bombs.

"No where is our commitment to international order more tested than in Syria,” he said. “That is not just a matter of one nation's internal affairs. It breeds human suffering on an order of magnitude that affects us all.”

Daesh emerged out of the chaos in Iraq and Syria, and "depends on perpetual war to survive," according to Obama, who urged world leaders to step up efforts against the militants.

"Part of that effort must be a continued rejection by Muslims of those who distort Islam, to preach intolerance, and promote violence. And it must also involve a rejection by non-Muslims of the ignorance that equates Islam with terror," he said.
 www.aa.com.tr
28/9/15
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