The call made by Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu on Wednesday appears to be a return to the previous foreign policy that prioritized the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Recently, Turkey has been more focused on fighting Syrian Kurds who have emerged as a dependable US partner against ISIS and on improving its ties with Russia and Iran, Assad’s top allies.
But Ankara has resumed its calls for Assad to go after the alleged chemical weapon attack on Douma last weekend.
“The Assad regime should absolutely leave power in Syria,” said Cavusoglu emphatically at an event on Islamophobia in Ankara.
“It is not the first time the Assad regime used chemical weapons. Leaving the chemical weapons aside, he has killed nearly one million people using other weapons through aerial bombing, barrel bombs and conventional weapons,” he added.
Turkey’s renewed call for regime change in Syria also appears to contradict its fear that Assad’s removal would result in the emergence of a semi-autonomous Kurdish entity in northern Syria.
Asli Aydintasbas, a senior Istanbul-based analyst at the European Council on Foreign Relations, says Cavusoglu’s statement is a “total discrepancy” from Turkey’s recent actions, including its participation in talks with Russia and Iran to solve Syria’s seven-year-old conflict.
“Just the other day,” said Aydintasbas, “Turkey hosted the primary backers of Assad: the Russian government and the Iranian government. These are the very people that prop up the Assad regime and have willingly turned a blind eye to the atrocities committed there. I think there is a total discrepancy between being an active member of the Astana process and calling for Assad’s removal.”
Aydintasbas added that Ankara’s stated interest in regime change in Syria does not mean it has softened its stance on alleged threats posed by the Kurdish forces, the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
“I think Turkey continues to view Syria through the Kurdish prism. It continues to see YPG as the primary enemy,” she said.
US military leaders say they have provided military options to President Donald Trump, who said on Wednesday that military action against Assad was imminent, despite Russian threats to respond to possible US strikes.
“Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria,” Trump tweeted, “get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!”
