ISTANBUL — A transition toward peace in Syria that involves President Bashar Al-Assad is “impossible” as the country’s opposition will not accept him, Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Wednesday.
Cavusoglu also confirmed Turkey had prepared an agreement toward a ceasefire.
Arrangements for the talks, which would not include the United States and be distinct from separate intermittent UN-brokered talks, remain hazy, but Moscow has said they would take place in Kazakhstan, a close ally.
Russia’s foreign minister on Tuesday said the Syrian government was consulting with the opposition ahead of possible peace talks, while a Saudi-backed opposition group said it knew nothing of the negotiations but supported a ceasefire.
If successful, the ceasefire plan will form the basis of upcoming political negotiations between the Damascus regime and opposition overseen by Russia and Turkey. It was not immediately clear how and where the plan had been agreed but there have been talks in the last weeks between Turkey, Russia and Syrian opposition representatives in Ankara.
Qatar-based channel Al-Jazeera said a new meeting is planned on Thursday in Ankara, this time between military representatives of Syrian rebels and Russia.
Ankara and Moscow have been on opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, with Turkey seeking the ouster of Al-Assad and Russia, along with Iran, his key international ally. But the two countries have started in the last months to cooperate more tightly on Syria, especially after a deal in summer to normalize ties battered by Turkey’s shooting down of a Russian warplane last year.
Ankara remained conspicuously quiet as Assad’s forces, backed by Russia, took control last week of all of Aleppo in the biggest defeat for the rebels in the civil war so far.
No date has yet been set for the talks and Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Maria Zakharova said the meeting was still at the planning stage. She emphasized that the talks were not intended to replace the peace process based in Geneva which has sought to find a solution for the Syrian conflict.
But the direct bilateral involvement of Turkey and Russia comes as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is increasingly expressing impatience at the role of the United States in Syria.
Previous ceasefire plans had been brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. They met with only temporary success and failed to lead to a solution for the conflict. It remains unclear how the new plan will apply to the Fateh Al-Sham, formerly the Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front, which has worked more closely with the rebels since changing its name.
Erdogan had on Tuesday launched one of his most bitter attacks yet on US and Western policy in Syria, which he said was marked by broken promises. He accused the West of not just supporting Kurdish militia that Ankara regards as a “terror group” but even Daesh (the so-called IS) militants.
Turkey has been enraged by the US policy of using the Kurdish Peoples’ Protection Units (YPG) as a trusted ally on the ground against Daesh. To Ankara’s pleasure, Russia has steered clear of overt cooperation with the YPG.
Erdogan accused the West of failing to back Turkey’s own incursion inside Syria in support of pro-Ankara fighters to oust IS from the border area, which has taken increasing casualties in recent weeks. — Agencies
