Moderate opposition, Damascus should agree on roadmap: Turkey FM

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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu stressed the need to find a political solution to the Syrian crisis, "through communication between the  regime [Syrian authorities] and the opposition."

"We say that within the framework of the UN Security Council resolution, the regime and the opposition must agree on a roadmap including a constitution and then an election process," Cavusoglu said, speaking to representatives of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and businesspeople in southern Hatay province, according to Turkish media.

Addressing those who said they were disturbed by this proposal, he said, "Tell us if there is another solution. Do you accept that this civil war continues for another 50 years?"

"Unity in Syria can only be achieved if the moderate opposition and the regime [Syrian authorities] agree on a roadmap," he added.

Cavusoglu added that this is the only way to establish unity and cohesion in Syria, and this would also contribute to enabling displaced Syrians to return securely to their country.

Turkey: We support the territorial integrity of Syria

The Turkish Foreign Minister pointed out that his country supports the territorial integrity of Syria and that its division should not be allowed," stressing that "Turkey is doing its best to ensure that these tragedies do not deepen and to prevent other countries from falling into such situation."

Cavusoglu pointed out that Syria should not be allowed to "turn into a den of terrorism directed against Turkey," saying that Turkey is aware of the support provided by the West to separatist groups in Syria such as the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).

He stressed that the aim of this Western support is to ensure that the organization continues its separatist agenda in northeastern Syria, in order to divide this country. However, he added, Turkey is taking all forms of measures to prevent these steps and prevent the division of Syria.

It is noteworthy that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said earlier this month that he was ready to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad when the time was right, noting that there were modest talks between Ankara and Damascus.

"There are intelligence meetings between the both of us currently," Erdogan added in response to a question posed by Al Mayadeen correspondent to Prague.

Last month, Reuters quoted a regional source who is close to President Al-Assad as saying that the Turkish-Syrian contacts had made a lot of progress, without giving details.