Turkey will never talk to Assad regime: officials

Turkish foreign policy remains unchanged towards the Syrian regime and there is no possibility of re-establishing relations as long as President Bashar al-Assad stays in power, two Turkish officials have told Al Jazeera.

The remarks came on Wednesday after various international media outlets reported a shift in Turkish policy, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim's nationally broadcast comments earlier on the same day.

Turkey has long expressed the staunchest opposition to Assad's rule, saying he should leave the office for the country to be stable again.

"We have normalised our relations with Israel and Russia. I am sure we will go back to normal relations with Syria as well," Yildirim said.

"We need this [because] in order for counterterrorism efforts to succeed, there has to be stability in Syria and Iraq; and [they] need to adopt government[s] that represent all our brothers and sisters [in Syria and Iraq]. This is inevitable."...
 [aljazeera.com]
13/7/16