Al-Bahra: Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad meeting is possible despite obstacles
The head of the Syrian National Coalition, Hadi al-Bahra, said that a meeting between Bashar al-Assad and the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan is possible despite the obstacles.
Al-Bahra said during an interview with Reuters agency that “Erdogan’s calls for talks with Bashar al-Assad are out of reach, but aim to send a reconciliation message in the region which increasingly distracted due to the war.”
Al-Bahra added “the meeting is possible although Ankara is fully aware that Damascus cannot meet its demands.”
Al-Bahra pointed out that Turkey is keen on this matter as they see clearly what they need to achieve, but they know very well Assad regime’s limitations. They also know the situation is difficult and it will take time, but they are work on building a case and sending clear messages to Assad regime and the world, including the Arab countries.
Al-Bahra considered that Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and with Hezbollah in Lebanon pushed the poverty, hunger, extremism, and the ongoing violence away from the world’s interest which could expose the country to a serious danger representing by a full collapse.
Al-Bahra continued that the international and regional powers do not consider Syria within their top 10 priorities, pointing out that they consider it as a humanitarian crisis they can deal with, which is a false impression.
Regarding the political process, Al-Bahra said, after meetings with US, Turkish and international delegations last week, that the UN-led political process “is still frozen.”
Regarding the Syrian refugees in Turkey, Al-Bahra said that many of the Syrians in Turkey now fought against the Assad regime, and they are from areas located outside the north of the country, which is controlled by Turkey, and that “complicates matters.”
According to Al-Bahra, “Turkey certainly knows that they can force 100,000, 200,000, or 500,000 refugees to return to Syria, but they cannot force three million,” pointing out that they “see clearly that to achieve this, you have to reach a political solution to the crisis in Syria.”
