Turkey differs with Russia on Syria's future

Turkey has differences of opinion with Russia about Syria’s political change, the country’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said today.

“We have some differences of opinion if it will be with or without Assad,” Cavusoglu said during an interview on Russian state-run channel, Russia-24.

“In our opinion, it is not possible that the opposition will unite Assad, because they don’t want to unite a regime, who killed at least 500,000 people,” he said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the regime of Bashar Al-Assad cracked down on pro-democracy protests – which erupted as part of the Arab Spring uprisings – with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, 400,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced across the war-battered country, according to the UN.

Relations between Russia and Turkey soured last November after Ankara downed a Russian fighter jet it said had invaded its airspace. Relations began to thaw June 29 following a letter and subsequent telephone calls between the countries’ leaders.

Cavusoglu said he is willing to visit the pilot’s spouse to pay his respects to her if she would agree to see him.