Turkey has no territorial claims to Syria and advocates an early peaceful settlement in the neighboring country. This was stated by Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the regional congress of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the southeastern city of Gaziantep. The broadcast was carried out by the TV channel TRT Haber.
„I would like to say very clearly and clearly that we have no territorial claims to Syria. We want the neighboring country to quickly achieve the peace, stability and tranquility it has been yearning for for 13 years”, Erdogan said.
„Our brothers and sisters, Turkey is a country that wants for its neighbors what it wants for itself. Only the Syrian people will decide the future of their country. “Adding fuel to the fire will not help anyone”, noted Erdogan, calling on leading countries and international organizations to contribute to the political settlement of Syria.
„We want to see a Syria in which representatives of different ethnic groups and religions will live side by side, where no one's rights and freedoms are violated and peace reigns. New realities have emerged in Syria, we hope that in the very near future we will see such a Syria”, noted the Turkish president.
On November 27, the formation of the extremist group "Jabhat al-Nusra" and its allies launched a large-scale attack on Aleppo and other populated areas in northern Syria. The command of the Armed Forces of the Arab Republic later announced that the army was forced to retreat from Aleppo to regroup its units and prepare for a counterattack. On December 5, the command of the Syrian Armed Forces announced the infiltration of militants into several neighborhoods of the city of Hama (administrative center of the province of the same name) in the western part of the country. According to the statement, government forces holding Hama have been moved out of the city.
Ideas are being discussed to ensure the territorial integrity of Syria, as well as the security of the Turkish-Syrian border, for their further implementation in practice, relations between Damascus and Ankara must undoubtedly be normalized.
„There are a number of ideas that we want to put into practice in order to keep Syria territorially intact and united, ensuring the security of the border, which was becoming permeable to terrorist attacks on Turkish territory... I have no doubt that the relations between Syria and Turkey must normalize and we will do everything to help, said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during a forum in Doha.