Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (left) and US President Barack Obama arrive for a joint news conference in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, yesterday.
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama and Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan insisted yesterday that Syria’s Bashar Al Assad must quit power as part of moves to end Syria’s bloody civil war.
The leaders met in Washington amid a flurry of shuttle diplomacy between world and regional powers, amid manoeuvring ahead of a planned international conference that Washington and Moscow have proposed to halt the violence.
At a joint White House news conference, the Turkish and US leaders restated their position, but Obama admitted: “There is no magic formula for dealing with an extraordinarily violent and difficult situation like Syria’s.”
The talks came a day before another key player, Russian President Vladimir Putin, was to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, and one day after UN members voted to condemn an “escalation” by Assad’s forces.
And even as Obama and Erdogan were meeting, Israeli officials told AFP that John Brennan, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, had arrived in Israel for talks on the Syrian crisis.
Obama has made strenuous efforts to court the Turkish leader but, while they agree that Assad must be ousted, there are signs of frustration in Ankara at Obama’s cautious approach towards the Syrian rebels.
Obama has balked at providing arms and ammunition to the guerrillas, fearing they could fall into the hands of extremist elements linked to Al Qaeda, and is now pinning hopes on the peace conference jointly organised by Russia. After meeting Erdogan, Obama gave no sign his position has changed. “We both agree that Assad needs to go. He needs to transfer power to a transitional body,” he said.
“That is the only way we’re going to resolve this crisis. And we’re going to keep working for a Syria that is free from Assad’s tyranny,” he added, vowing to support Turkey in its struggle to cope with a flood of Syrian refugees.
In what was perhaps a sign that Turkey is not yet satisfied with Obama’s stance, Erdogan said: “We will continue to discuss this issue in greater detail in our meeting this evening.”
But he added: “Let me tell you that ending this bloody process in Syria and meeting the legitimate demands of the people by establishing a new government are two areas where we are in full agreement with the United States.”
Before the meeting, speaking on condition of anonymity, a Turkish official told AFP that Erdogan would push for direct US military aid for the rebels.
“Everyone in the international community is very much concerned, worried about the radical elements,” he said.
“We are of course concerned more than anyone else, being a neighbour of Syria — but the way to deal with that problem is not withholding your support. Not doing anything is not a solution.”
Syria jihadists executed regime supporters: video
A video distributed yesterday by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights shows a jihadist in the east of the country executing supporters of the regime of President Bashar Al Assad.
The Britain-based watchdog did not specify whether the nine men killed were combatants, nor did it say when the footage was recorded.
Later yesterday, the Britain-based group sent further footage showing what it described as the body of the reported executioner — a man of Saudi origin identified as Kasura Al Jazrawi.
Meanwhile, a prominent Syrian actress and outspoken activist against the regime of President Bashar Al Assad was detained yesterday, a human rights lawyer said. “At noon (0900 GMT) today, the security forces detained the free actress May Skaf while she was on her way home in the Mashru Dummar neighbourhood” of Damascus, Anwar Al Bunni reported on Facebook.
“Skaf made a mobile phone call to her son, to tell him her identity card had been taken from her by members of the security forces at a checkpoint,” Bunni told AFP.
Her mobile phone has since been switched off, he added.
Skaf’s “detention... confirms that the Syrian authorities... are seeking to silence the voices of cultural and political figures, to try and give credence to their narrative that the regime is fighting terrorism”, Bunni said.
AFP
