Turkey vows active role in Syria, better regional ties

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim has vowed Ankara would play a "more active" role in the next six months in efforts to end the five-year Syrian civil war and work towards normalising its relations with its neighbours in the Middle East.

Yildirim said in a news briefing on Saturday that Ankara would step up efforts to reduce "instability" in the region.

"We say the bloodshed needs to stop. Babies, children, innocent people should not die. That's why Turkey will be more active in trying to stop the danger getting worse in the next six months, compared with before,"
Yildirim told foreign reporters in Istanbul.

• 'No role to play in Syria's future'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad can remain temporarily during a transition period as "he is one of the actors today no matter whether we like it or not," Yildirim said.

But the premier stressed that Assad has "no role to play in Syria's future".

"We believe that the PKK, Daesh and Assad should not be in the future of Syria," he added, referring to the Syrian Kurds and the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant group (ISIL, also known as ISIS) in the war-torn country.

Yildirim said instead Turkey, Iran, Russia and the United States must work toward a solution in Syria.

"That is our objective. We are not pessimistic. We have even left it late. Therefore, as Turkey, we will work more because the instability there pains us."

• Turkey wants to 'repair ties' with old allies

Since last month's failed coup attempt , Turkey has been unhappy with the West’s muted response to the incident and frustrated with continued criticism of its human rights record.

As a result, it sought to work with Iran and Russia on Syria's future and solving the crisis.

Although Russia and Iran are Assad's main allies which put them at loggerheads with Turkey, this month Erdogan met with Russian President Vladimir Putin while Tehran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif came to Ankara.

Prime Minister Yildirim told reportes on Saturday that Turkey also wants to normalise relations with other old allies, like Israel and Egypt...
 Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
 20/8/16
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