UPDATE - Scenes from underground jails 'best response' to Assad's supporters: Turkish President Erdogan

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY PRESIDENT, CHANGES BACKGROUND

By Esra Tekin

ISTANBUL (AA) — Images that have emerged in recent days of subterranean prisons in Damascus serve as the "best response" to supporters of the ousted Syrian regime, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

“The best response to those who view the revolution in Syria with crossed eyes, those who glorify the (Bashar) Assad era is the underground prisons in Damascus,” Erdogan said on at a provincial congress of his Justice and Development (AK) party in northwestern Türkiye.

Türkiye has supported "our Syrian brothers and sisters," fulfilling the obligations of "brotherhood," Erdogan said. He emphasized that this was done without complaint, embodying the spirit of being "Ansar to the Muhajirun."

He was referring to the concept of "Ansar" in Islamic history, seventh-century residents of the city of Medina, located in present-day Saudi Arabia, who welcomed and aided the "Muhajirun," the Prophet Muhammad’s followers who fled persecution in Mecca, another city further south, highlighting the solidarity between the two groups.

Syrian "guests," many of whom Türkiye has been hosting since the war broke out in 2011, have started to gradually return to their home country Erdogan said, noting that many of them have homes, workplaces, land and relatives in Syria.

He vowed that Ankara would clear Syria any "terrorist organizations and occupiers" that remain and create suitable conditions for Syrians in Türkiye to reunite with their lands.

“Those who wish to stay here and contribute to our country with their savings, skills, labor, and production have a place of honor above our heads. What matters most is that, whether in their own country or here, our brothers and sisters can live in peace and look to their futures with confidence,” he said.

He noted that over the past 13 years of the Syrian war, this spirit of "brotherhood" has reached new heights. "We shouldered a political and social burden that no other country in the world could endure, and we did so without hesitation," Erdogan said.

Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power in Syria since 1963.