Turkish Opposition Calls for Direct Ankara-Damascus Dialogue

Date: 29 September 2019 - 22:34

News ID: ۷۱۰۵۶

ANKARA (Dispatches) – Establishing a direct dialogue between Ankara and Damascus is the easiest way to reach a peaceful settlement of the conflict in Syria, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of Turkey’s main opposition party, the Republican People's Party (CHP), says.
"[Creating] a communications channel between Ankara and Damascus is the easiest way to peace”, Kilicdaroglu said at the conference in Istanbul, cited by the Hurriyet newspaper.
He pointed out the importance of restoring peace in Syria for maintaining stability in Turkey. The CHP leader expressed hope that Ankara and Damascus would manage to resume friendly relations.
At the same time, Kilicdaroglu believes that Turkey has a right to fight terror organizations on the Syrian soil to ensure its security.
"The Turkish struggle with terrorism abroad is a right, guaranteed by international agreements,” the CHP leader noted.
From his point of view, such anti-terror efforts must be made with full respect to the Syrian territorial integrity.
"We must not forget that only the Syrian people can determine the future of Syria”, Kilicdaroglu said.
He also voiced an initiative to create a peace and cooperation organization that would include Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
The CHP is currently holding a peace conference on Syria in Istanbul.
The comments come as State broadcaster TRT Haber says Turkey plans to build towns within the so-called safe zone in northeast Syria, raising fears that Ankara might be carving out a patch of land in the Arab country for itself.
The network revealed details of the scheme in territories outside the control of the Syrian government, which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan proposed at the 74th session of the UN General Assembly earlier this week.
Last month, Turkey and the U.S. agreed to set up the "safe zone" stretching from the Euphrates River to the Iraqi border.
Syria slammed the deal as a "blatant aggression” against the country’s territorial integrity and a "flagrant violation” of the international law and the UN Charter.
At the United Nations, Erdogan held up a map to show the zone which Turkey wants to set up with the United States, and where it says one million Syrian refugees would be housed.
Turkey has pushed for the 20-mile (32 km) deep "safe zone” to be established along more than 400 km of its border with northeast Syria.
It initially said the aim of the zone was to drive back Syrian Kurdish YPG forces - which Ankara views as a security threat - from the border. It now says the region will also be used to settle 1 million of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees hosted by Turkey.
Under Turkey's plan, which would cost around 151 billion lira ($27 billion), 140 villages and 10 towns would be established inside the "safe zone".