Official sources announce US Secretary of State's upcoming trip to Türkiye

An official Turkish source has announced that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit Türkiye.

"Mr. Blinken will arrive in Türkiye on December 13," the source stated, Caliber.Az reports via Russian media.

Earlier, the Turkish Haber Global channel reported on Blinken’s upcoming visit. During his trip, he is scheduled to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. The primary focus of the discussions will be the situation in Syria.

On November 27, armed opposition groups launched a large-scale offensive against Syrian army positions in the Aleppo and Idlib provinces. By the evening of December 7, they had captured several major cities (Aleppo, Hama, Daraa, and Homs), and on December 8, they entered Damascus, with Syrian government forces withdrawing from the city. Syrian government leader Muhammad Ghazi al-Jalali expressed readiness for a peaceful transfer of power in the country. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that Bashar al-Assad stepped down as president of Syria and left the country, giving instructions for a peaceful handover of power.

The decision to grant political asylum to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his family was made personally by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, confirmed this in a statement to journalists.

"Such decisions cannot be made without the president. This is his decision," Peskov stated.

However, Peskov declined to comment on Assad's current whereabouts.

When asked by journalists about the location of Bashar al-Assad, who has been granted asylum in Moscow, the Kremlin spokesperson responded, "I have nothing to say about Mr. Assad's whereabouts at this time."

By Naila Huseynova