Turkish PM: Assad negotiation like handshake with Hitler

ANKARA

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has criticized U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's remarks about negotiating with Syria's Bashar al-Assad, equating it to a handshake with Adolf Hitler.

"We have been hearing some improper voices from the West that negotiation with Assad is needed, which contradicts human conscience," Davutoglu told a parliamentary group meeting of his Justice and Development, or AK, Party on Tuesday.

Turkish premier said that the memory of human conscience would not forget if the West shook hands with Assad. "It is no different than a handshake with Saddam, Milosevic, Karadzic," he said.

He also criticized the West for not punishing Assad for allegedly using chemical weapons against his people so many times.

Davutoglu emphasized that those who wished to shake hands with Assad would bear the burden of all future atrocities in the Middle East, "just like the human tragedies over which the world kept silent when Hitler entered Poland and Saddam used chemical weapons in Halabja."

About his Friday meeting with Syrian National Coalition members, the premier said Ankara would continue its support for the Syrian opposition against Assad. "Our efforts to strengthen them against Assad regime will save the Syrian people from getting stuck between an inhumane regime and a terrorist group (Daesh)," he added.

In an interview with the American network CBS News Sunday, Kerry said that Washington would have to negotiate with Damascus to find a solution to the Syria crisis. "We are working very hard with other interested parties to see if we can reignite a diplomatic outcome," he said in Lausanne, Switzerland.

In response to the remarks, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said recently, "What is there to negotiate with Assad? His regime killed more than 200,000 people and used chemical weapons."

Kerry's remarks also drew criticism from across the world, especially from the European Union itself, as it came when the Syrian civil war entered its fifth year on March 15.

During its Monday meeting in Brussels, the Council of the European Union concluded, "As a consequence of its policies and actions, the Assad regime cannot be a partner in the fight against ISIL/Da'esh."

“Assad has no place in Syria's future,” U.K.'s Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a statement Monday, adding that they will continue applying sanctions pressure "until Assad reassesses his position, ends the violence and engages in meaningful negotiations with the moderate opposition."

French Prime Minister Manuel Valls had also expressed his regret over Kerry's remarks, and said "Assad is responsible for tens of thousands of deaths".