ADDS MORE REMARKS FROM PRESIDENT ERDOGAN
By Esra Tekin
ISTANBUL (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope Tuesday that the new post-Assad administration in Syria will continue with an approach that “encompasses and embraces all sectors” of Syrian society.
President Erdogan said Ankara “wholeheartedly” believes that Türkiye’s “Syrian brothers who won their fight against a bloodstained, tyrannical regime” will be successful, referring to last weekend’s ouster of the Baathist regime of Bashar al-Assad, which had been in power for decades.
Drawing attention to the fact that the Assad regime fled Syria, leaving behind great wreckage filled with massacres, destruction and barbarity, he said “the tyrants lost, have been humiliated, and the oppressed have once again triumphed.”
"The evil that has been sustained in Syria for 61 years with blood and tears has now come to an end. God willing, the hardest period in this country is now behind us as of Sunday,” he added.
Stating that Ankara has always defended justice, fairness and the construction of an inclusive and comprehensive system since the first day of the Syrian conflict, Erdogan said that Türkiye “opened both its doors and its hearts to its Syrian brothers and sisters.”
“Despite all the obstacles, unjust criticisms, and character assassinations against our government, the righteousness of its humanitarian policy, which has been pursued with determination for 13 years, has been clearly confirmed,” he said.
Referring to the prisons in Syria, Erdogan said they are essentially “human slaughterhouses.”
"The images of brutality and the tragic human stories coming from Syrian prisons clearly reveal why the Syrian people were forced to leave their homes, why they did not trust Assad's so-called amnesty declarations, and why they are unwilling to return to their country,” he added.
On ties between Türkiye and Iraq, Erdogan said Ankara sees Iraq’s territorial integrity and sovereignty as “very, very important.”
He said the countries' joint fight against the PKK terrorist group, which threatens their security and survival, will continue.
“With our Development Path Project, we are working closely with our stakeholders to make this country the new route for transportation networks,” he said.
Regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, which will enter its third year in February, Erdogan underlined that Türkiye has pursued a balanced policy in the war, prioritizing the establishment of a just peace.
"We have been focused on extinguishing the fire, not adding fuel to it. We will maintain this stance in the period ahead,” he said.
Addressing efforts to reach a peace deal between the southern Caucasus neighbors of Azerbaijan and Armenia, Erdogan said that Türkiye hopes the “historic opportunity” that came with the liberation of the Karabakh region from occupation last fall will be crowned with an Azerbaijan-Armenia peace deal.
Relations between the former Soviet republics have been tense since 1991, when the Armenian military occupied Karabakh, a territory internationally recognized as part of Azerbaijan, and seven adjacent regions.
Most of the territory was liberated by Azerbaijan during a war in the fall of 2020, which ended after a Russian-brokered peace agreement opened the door to ongoing normalization and demarcation talks.
Azerbaijan established full sovereignty in Karabakh in September 2023.