"Assad can't lead a transition process"

ANKARA

"The future of the Syria after Assad's regime is the main issue, and someone who committed murder should not take a part in the transition process", Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday. 
Speaking at the Anadolu Agency's "Editors' Desk", Ahmet Davutoglu stressed that nobody believes Bashar al-Asssad can lead a transition process in Syria.
Davutoglu assessed the latest developments in Syria and said Syrian people have been facing a humanitarian tragedy for nearly two years.
He added Turkey was one of those countries who put so much efforts into the situation in Syria not to result its current state.
Davutoglu said the Syrian regime was increasing the violence and still holds an oppressive method.
He stressed that the regime harmed its own people and ruined its own cities with snipers at first, then attacking with tanks and bombs, then with air forces and lastly using Scud missiles.
He has said, "It seems like, almost all international community including the countries who supported Syria came into a common conclusion that Assad's should hand over his power. The only point debated is on how, when and what will happen afterwards? Otherwise, if you have a look at it, all other countries pay attention to try to keep a distance with Assad. We already kept that distance anyways."
Furthermore, he mentioned, "At the moment, nobody in the international community believes in "Assad will stay and is legitimate". The actual problem came out after Lakhdar Brahimi, UN & Arab League envoy to Syria held last talks in Moscow and Damascus. What will happen to Assad during the transitional period, in what composition a new administration come out?"
Referring to the transitional period, Davutoglu said "the ones who committed murder" should not take part in it and said, "Syrian people, most of the countries, the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) have an attitude of not giving any roles to the ones who committed murder in the transitional process. We are also of that opinion."
Davutoglu expressed that it is not possible for the ones who oppress its own people to hold an active and a convincing reform and push that on Syrian people.

"We want the solution of the Paris killings case immediately"

"Turkey follows the incident closely and as Turkish government we want the solution of the case immediately as that would help revealing who use terror as a tool", Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday.
Ahmet Davutoglu assessed last week's killing of Kurdish women in Paris at the Anadolu Agency's "Editor's Desk".
Upon a question about what kind of cooperation was being carried on between the foreign ministries of Turkey and France after the killing of three Kurdish women, he said, "We followed closely since the beginning of the Paris killings and developments occurred about the incident. There was always an open channel between our Ambassador, French foreign ministry and related institutions."
Davutoglu stressed there were two important targets regarding the slain. Firstly, it was the illumination of the incident and the other one was to prevent any acts of people who would wish to target Turkish missions and citizens in France.
He said, even several destructive acts took place lately, important precautions carried under auspices of French security forces, there were no dangerous situations for the security of the missions nor the citizens.
He noted, "This topic needs to be enlightened" and continued, "As Turkish government we want the solution of the case immediately as that would help revealing who use terror as a tool."
Moreover, Davutoglu said, "Especially in the recent period, a positive atmosphere brought up parallel to the developments happening in Turkey. The ones who wanted sabotage that were actually the ones who used terror in the past. So, if the background of this sabotage was illuminated, it would come out who benefited from terror."
Davutoglu added that Turkey's combating terrorism was always kept to be respectful to international law and said, "The most important thing for us is that, in this period both sides would approach incidents in tranquility and calm. In this frame, it is important to not to let those who wish to sabotage these developments as they took advantage of terror in the past."
Lastly, Davutoglu said France had to complete its domestic inquiry and investigation.
He said they repeatedly forwarded France that they are ready to take part in any kind of cooperations and stressed, "As usual we will contribute. Because the solution of the case would supply advantages for all."

"Turkey against unilateral intervention in Mali"

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Friday said that Turkey was against unilateral intervention in Mali, adding that the efforts should be conducted under the roof of United Nations.
Speaking at the Anadolu Agency Editor's Desk on Friday, Davutoglu made assessment on the latest developments in Mali.
Davutoglu stated that in the south of the North Africa a delicate band had emerged in parallel with the developments in the North Africa. 
Noting that the situation in Mali was critical, Davutoglu stated that Mali was the centre country of the Sahara region, and the city of Timbuktu where can be seen the marks of Turkish civilisation, is a place to be protected.
"Turkey's policy on Mali is clear. We have cooperated with African Union and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in terms of re-building democratic atmosphere and protecting territorial integrity of Mali," Davutoglu said.
Touching on France's military operation in Mali, Davutoglu said, "We attach importance to solve the problem primarily inside Mali, and than in the African Union and ECOWAS. Whenever such a kind of issues becomes internationalized, it can get more complicated. What's important is to carry out those efforts under the umbrella of United Nations. No country should perform an intervention itself or with another country."
Recalling that he had a phone conversation with Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu on Thursday, the Minister Davutoglu said that he had requested from Ihsanoglu that Mail issue should be on the top of the agenda during OIC's February summit in Cairo.
"We took official steps in the direction of organizing an extraordinary meeting that can be attended by also foreign ministers, in terms of which steps should be taken on Mali. We asked to the executive committee of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to convene member countries for an extraordinary meeting on Mali" Davutoglu said.

"Turkey yet to receive apology"

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Friday that Turkey would retain its stance on mending ties with Israel until Tel Aviv administration make a clear apology.
Speaking at the Anadolu Agency Editor's Desk on Friday, Davutoglu answering a question about Israel's latest attempt to mend ties with Turkey via a letter, said, "There were several efforts on the issue right from the beginning. However, these works have not concluded yet. We demand a clear apology, and until our request to be fulfilled we will retain our stance."
Davutoglu stated that if a country kills Turkish citizens in the international waters and threaten the peace in Gaza and other regions via its settlement policy, Turkey would remain silent.
"There are several conditions Turkey appointed to Israel following the Mavi Marmara incident. There are 3 main conditions and until those conditions are met, nobody should expect normalization on Turkey-Israel relations. Speculative news are being spread and a perception is being built with those news. Some of the news may be related to the Israeli elections. However, our stance is clear. There is no change in our stance," Davutoglu said.

Wounded Iraqis to be brought to Turkey

"We gave instructions and several wounded people in the north of Iraq will be brought to Turkey via Habur Border Gate" said Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu referring to the bomb attacks in Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu, Iraq.
Speaking at the Anadolu Agency Editor's Desk on Friday, Davutoglu assessed the latest developments in Iraq.
He replied to the questions of AA reporters regarding the Wednesday's bomb attacks which took place in the northern cities of Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu in Iraq.
He said, Iraq was a country which worried them as much as Syria did.
Davutoglu reminded that for more than a year there were some developments in Iraq which were almost targeting all the political leaders and threatening the peace and said, "In 2011, there was a period starting with Tariq al-Hashimi then continued with Saleh al-Mutlaq, then tensions between Kurdish region and central government, then a serious tension occurred between al-Maliki and Barzani, and a line of tension which was nearly an armed conflict between the forces of the central government and Kurdish region's forces."
Davutoglu touched on latest attacks in Iraq which were targeting the Iraqi Finance Minister Rafi al-Issawi and said, "al-Issawi is a respected name by both Iraqis and international community. He is one of the contributing politicians of Iraq."
Davutoglu added that there was an operation which started against Iraqi minister and that al-Issawi was targeted and the situation brought up a political tension.
He expressed that during these periods, Turkey advised to all sides to find solutions through dialogues and added, "Unfortunately, in current situation a major trust towards al-Maliki was shaken in some regions." He underlined the situation in Iraq should not be seen as a problem of Sunnis-Shiites or Arabs-Kurds anymore.
Furthermore, he said they gave instructions for the transport of several wounded people in the north of Iraq bombings to Turkey and added that for this moment, nearly 10 wounded individuals were about to enter Turkey via Habur Border Crossing.
Referring to the tensions and attacks, Davutoglu said the important thing was to put demands into words peacefully.
"Al-Maliki needs to give up politics which put sides against each other and adopt politics which would help the unity of Iraq. As Turkey, we always supported Iraq's territorial integrity. We were against any sectarian tensions. The separation of Sunni-Shiite, Arab, Kurd, Turkmen in Iraq is out of topic for us. All Iraqis are our brothers."
Davutoglu said Turkey approaches to all Iraqis with the same sense of fellowship however the situation in Iraq worries them.
Moreover, Turkish Minister Davutoglu assessed the latest developments from the potential energy projects to be placed in Iraq and said, "North of Iraq region is Turkey's door which opens to Iraq. It is very usual to hold fully economic cooperations with the region. It is not a new situation. As an opening door to the whole of Iraq, we will continue with our cooperations in the fields of economy, energy and culture in north of Iraq. However, these relations would work within the Iraqi principles of law. Nobody needs to feel uncomfortable with it."
Davutoglu mentioned that not only Turkey, yet other countries were holding similar projects in northern Iraq.
Davutoglu expressed the most urgent work to be sorted in Iraq was the application of the hydrocarbon gas law and paving the way for Iraqi sources.
"Iraq sits on a major treasure. But because of the domestic political controversies, these opportunities were not being assessed."