Turkey wants to find political solution for Syria together with Russia - Erdogan’s spokesman

ANKARA, August 4. /TASS/. Turkey considers Russia a partner in finding a way out of the Syrian crisis, Ibrahim Kalin, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, told TASS on Thursday. "We have always sought opportunities for cooperation with Russia on the issue," he said. "We want to look into the future with hope and would like to ensure the political transition in Syria at an early date in cooperation with Russia." Kalin recalled that Turkey and Russia "held summit meetings in Sochi and then in Moscow in September 2015 for the sake of stability in Syria." "Thanks to this we paved the way for creating the International Syria Support Group," he said. The spokesman noted that "the Syrian crisis continues to pose one of the greatest threats to both the region and the global security and stability." "Turkey is the most exposed to this danger, and all the negative aspects of the Syrian conflict are immediately felt here. That is why Turkey’s primary goal is to put an end to clashes in Syria without delay and on a permanent basis," he said. Kalin added that "at the current stage we have failed to reach a point where one could say that there is hope for a political solution in Syria." Concerning Ankara’s stance on the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Kalyn made it clear that it has remained unchanged. "Unfortunately, as long as Assad is in power, it is hardly possible to talk about the political transition. Talking about Assad remaining in power means talking about the continuation of hostilities. If we aim for permanent peace in Syria, I think after five years of the fighting and the loss of half a million innocent Syrians it became perfectly clear that peace cannot be achieved with Assad," he said. Speaking about the Turkish vision of the new political reality in Syria, Kalin pointed to the need "to create an inclusive, pluralistic, democratically legitimate political system in Syria recognized by all Syrians." "Both Russia’s and Turkey’s interests require such results," he added. Read more