Turkey convinced Russia and Iran not to intervene in Syria during the rebel offensive that led to the fall of Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish Foreign Minister said Friday.
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“ The most important thing to do was to talk to the Russians and the Iranians and be sure that they would not enter the equation militarily. We spoke with the Russians and the Iranians, they understood “, declared Hakan Fidan during an interview broadcast live on the private Turkish channel NTV. “ In order for there to be a minimum loss of life, we have strived to achieve this without bloodshed by pursuing targeted negotiations with two important actors capable of using force “, he continued.
“ The man they invested in is not a man to invest in »
For the head of Turkish diplomacy, if Bashar al-Assad had received the support of the Russia and theIranthere was a risk that “ the victory of the opposition […] take a lot of time and it would have been bloody “. “ But the Russians and the Iranians saw that it no longer made any sense. The man they invested in is not a man worth investing in. Additionally, conditions in the region, as well as global conditions are not the same “, he clarified.
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When rebels led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) launched their offensive on November 27, Moscow and Tehran initially offered military support to Assad to contain the rebels. But the scale of the collapse of Assad’s forces took them by surprise. And it came at a time when both countries were grappling with their own problems: Russia, mired in war with Ukraine, and Iranian-backed groups, including Lebanon’s Hezbollah, were taking a beating major on the part of Israel.
Many countries, especially in the regionhave expressed concerns about HTS, which grew out of a division of Al-Qaeda’s Syrian branch and is considered by many Western governments to be a terrorist organization. For Hakan Fidan, he is “ completely normal » to have such “ concerns » about HTS, which “ need to be resolved “. “ No one knows them as well as we do, we want a Syria without terrorism […] which does not represent a threat to the countries of the region », added Hakan Fidan.
Since 2016, Turkey has exercised considerable influence over northwest Syria, maintaining relations with HTS which controlled most of the Idlib region before the offensive. With open lines of communication with the HTS, Turkey is conveying these concerns directly to them, the minister said. “ We transmit them to the administration in Damascus. We tell them : Turkey, which has supported you for years, as well as the world, expects this from you […]. Our duty and their test is to address these concerns “.
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