UPDATE - Syrians hopeful for future after 13-year civil war: Turkish President Erdogan

UPDATES WITH MORE REMARKS BY TURKISH PRESIDENT

By Merve Berker

ANKARA (AA) — Syrians today are hopeful for the future after 13 years of civil war, Türkiye's president said on Saturday.

"(For the first time) In years, people are smiling on the streets of Aleppo, Homs, and Damascus. After 13 years, our Syrian brothers and sisters are looking to their future with hope," Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a local congress of his Justice and Development (AK) Party in the eastern province of Erzurum.

Erdogan said Türkiye is receiving praise worldwide as an "island of stability amid chaos," pointing to ongoing conflicts in the country's region, including the Russia-Ukraine war and the Israeli onslaught in Gaza and Lebanon.

“We never allowed the flames around us to spread to our country,” he said, adding: “With balanced, prudent, and fair policies, we have successfully managed all these challenging processes, and we continue to do so.”

“We know that all these problems, challenges, and difficulties are circumstantial, meaning they are temporary,” stressed the Turkish leader.

On the fall of Bashar Assad regime in Syria, Erdogan said this came after 61 years of "oppression, tyranny, massacres, and darkness” of Baath Party rule.

He asserted that Assad "is responsible for the death of 1 million innocent people in his country, had to flee Damascus overnight with his tail between his legs.”

“The Syrian people, through 13 years of arduous struggle, achieved a magnificent victory that not only liberated themselves but also filled us with pride.”

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.