Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu. IMAGE: AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici
Turkey’s Forgiven Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on December 16 that his country “should consider” working with Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad, if he wins a democratic and credible election.
“If it is democratic and credible one then everybody should consider that [working with Assad] … At the end, Syrian people should decide who is going to rule the country after the elections,” Cavusoglu said on the sideline of the Doha Forum, according to the Turkish Anadolu Agency.
Addressing the issue of the Syrian constitution, Cavusoglu stressed that only Syrians should draft the constitution of their country.
Turkey has been working along with Russia and Iran to help the Damascus government and the Syrian opposition form a joint constitutional committee before the end of this year. The U.N. is sponsoring these efforts.
A day earlier, Iran’s Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, revealed that the Syrian joint constitutional committee will be announced within the next week. The Iranian minister also emphasized that “there is no military solution in Syria.”
While the formation of the joint constitutional committee will be a huge step forward. Many local observers doubt that the committee will be able draft a new constitutional for Syria, as previous talks between the government and the opposition were fruitless due to the U.S. interference.
