Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said on Saturday that his country is willing to accept a role for Syrian President Bashar Assad during a transitional period, but insisted that he has no place in Syria’s future.

Turkey is one of the main supporters of rebels fighting to overthrow Assad, and hosts more than 2.7 million Syrian refugees.

“Could Syria carry Assad in the long-term? Certainly not,” Yildirim said. “The United States knows and Russia knows that Assad does not appear to be someone who can bring [the people] together.”

“We may sit and talk [with him] for the transition. A transition may be facilitated. But we believe that there should be no [Kurdish rebels], ISIL terrorist group (Daesh) or Assad in Syria’s future,” he said.

Turkey to take more active role on Syria 

Yildirim also said “Turkey will take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria in the next six months to prevent the war-torn country being divided along ethnic lines.” Reuters reported.

Yildirim also told a group of reporters in Istanbul that while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could have a role in the interim leadership, he must play no part in its future.
Syria's more than five-year foreign sponsored conflict has taken on an ethnic dimension, with Kurdish groups carving out their own regions, and periodically battling groups from Syria's Arab majority whose priority is to overthrow Assad.

Turkey fears the strengthening of Kurdish militant groups in Syria will further embolden its own Kurdish insurgency, which flared anew following the collapse of a ceasefire between militants and the state last year.

“Turkey we will be more active in the Syria issue in the coming six months as a regional player. This means to not allow Syria to be divided on any ethnic base, for Turkey this is crucial,” Yildirim said.

On Friday Syrian Kurdish authorities evacuated thousands of civilians from Kurdish areas of Hasaka following Syrian government air strikes, the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG/Yekîneyên Parastina Gel) militia said.

The fighting this week in Hasaka, which is divided into zones of Kurdish and Syrian government control, marks the most violent confrontation between the Kurdish YPG militia and Damascus in the civil war.

It came a week after Turkey and Russia, Assad's strongest military backer, repaired ties following Turkey's downing of a Russian jet late last year.

The YPG and Syrian government forces had mostly left each other to their own devices in the conflict, during which Kurdish groups have exploited the collapse of state control to establish autonomy across much of the country's north.

The Kurdish YPG militia is an integral part of the United States-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which are at the heart of Washington's military campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) terrorist group and last week seized the northern town of Manbij from the militants.

Despite the intensified military involvement of world powers, including the former Cold War foes, Yildirim said he was optimistic that the Persian Gulf powerhouse Iran, Persian Gulf Arab states, Russia and the United States, could work jointly to find a solution.
(Source: agencies)