Damascus is in a much better position today vis-à-vis its opponents in Syria thanks to the help it has received from Iran, President Abdullah Gül has said.“For Iran, Syria is a matter of life and death. For us, it is a humanitarian issue. For Russia, it is a matter of warm seas, the only stronghold issue. It keeps saying ‘I will end the war.’ I had said earlier that the rhetoric of the Western world was strong but that would not be reflected on the field; it was only valor,” he said while returning to Turkey from a trip to Rome.
“[Today], it is Damascus which has the stronger hand. How did it come to Geneva?” he said.
Speaking about Turkey’s security risks in Syria, Gül said: “There is no [place] to be very optimistic about Syria’s future. If a transitional government with power had come out of Geneva, maybe that could have fuelled hope for the future. That didn’t happen. The next aspect we need to focus on are the threats and risks for Turkey that are being created in the environment that has emerged. Many groups have emerged in this uncertain environment,” he said.
“The issue there is not the clash of the regime and the opponents. There are so many groups among the opposition that there are clashes among themselves,” he said, noting that this was also happening right along Turkey’s 900-kilometer border with Syria. “You never know where this will lead you. These kinds of situations instigate and create radicalism, extremism.”
‘A threat similar to Afghanistan’
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