Turkish FM denies Trump claim of ‘unfriendly takeover’ by Türkiye in Syria
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan tells Al Jazeera the only ‘takeover’ in Syria was ‘the will of the Syrian people’
Fidan has denied a claim by incoming United States President Donald Trump,
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the toppling of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was an “unfriendly takeover” by Türkiye
In remarks apparently praising Ankara, Trump told a news conference earlier this week,
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Türkiye was “very smart” and had carried out “an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost” in Syria
In an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Wednesday, Fidan said,
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it would be “a grave mistake” to describe the current events in Syria as a takeover by Türkiye
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“For Syrian people, it is not a takeover I think if there is any takeover, it’s the will of the Syrian people which is taking over now”
Fidan also said,
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the “last thing” that Türkiye wants is to be seen as the regional power that has final control of Syria, pointing to a culture of domination that had brought ruin to the region"
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Well, I think that would be the last thing that we want to see because we are drawing huge lessons from what’s been happening in our region because the domination culture itself has destroyed our region”
"Not Turkish domination, not Iranian domination, not Arab domination but cooperation should be essential”
Fidan added,
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“Our solidarity with Syrian people shouldn’t be characterised or defined today as if … we are actually ruling Syria I think that would be wrong”
