Turkish FM: Türkiye had no role in Assad’s fall attempt

Türkiye did not participate in the operation of the armed opposition in Syria, which led to the fall of the administration of Bashar al-Assad, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

"Türkiye was not part of such a process. After the start of the operation by the HTS [the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham military group] and other opposition groups, we made intensive efforts to ensure that it was carried out in the most bloodless, trouble-free way, but we did not unite with any country or group before that, did not participate in such planning,"  he said, Caliber.Az reports, referencing foreign media.

Fidan also said that he had not met with the former Syrian president to discuss the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, although such attempts had been made repeatedly with the mediation of third countries.

"We tried to come, we wanted to, but they refused. We even used the countries of the region as intermediaries, in particular Iraq. He [Assad] gave them all a negative answer," the Turkish foreign minister said.

According to him, Israel never wanted Assad to leave. "Israel never wanted Assad to leave. <...> Assad has generally been a useful player for him," Fidan said.

Recall that on November 27, members of the Syrian opposition armed groups, including Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, launched a large-scale offensive against government positions in the provinces of Aleppo and Idlib.

By the evening of December 7, the opponents of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad captured several major cities - Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Deraa, Hama and Homs. On December 8, they entered Damascus, after which the Syrian army units left the city. Assad left the post and the country after intra-Syrian negotiations. Laterç it üas announced that Assad fled the country to Moscow where Russian President Vladimir Putin had personally granted him and his family asylum.

By Khagan Isayev