Turkey dismisses any Syria plan with Assad in place

Turkey's prime minister has dismissed any attempt at ending the Syrian war that does not include the removal of the country's President Bashar al-Assad.

Ahmet Davutoglu's comments come a day after the UN Security Council agreed on a draft text for a peace process to end the conflict.

"Such resolutions have never helped solving or sorting out the Syrian problems and Assad is still there," Davutoglu said on Saturday, adding that his country would work towards bringing democracy to Syria.

"The longer Assad is there there will be more chaos ... all countries must know Assad is not serving their interests."

During talks in New York on Friday, world leaders agreed on a draft process to bring an end to hostilities between Syrian rebels and Assad.

The plan outlined by US Secretary of State John Kerry aims to put into place a transitional government within six months and have elections within a year and a half.

The plan, however, does not tackle some of the obstacles diplomats are facing in bringing the two sides to the negotiating table, namely the fate of Assad and which opposition groups will be included in the peace process.

Turkey and US President Barack Obama have ruled out any solution that does not involve the removal of Assad, a position shared by the Syrian opposition...
 [aljazeera.com]
 19/12/15
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Related:

• France demands assurances Assad will leave power

• Syria crisis: Powers 'agree Syria peace process resolution'

• The US, UK and France called for his departure, saying he had lost the ability to lead the country. 

• Moskau und Washington streiten weiter über Assad...