ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he might invite his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad to Turkiye “at any moment,” in a sign of reconciliation after the 2011 war broke ties between Ankara and Damascus.
“We may send an invitation (to Assad) at any moment,” Erdogan told journalists aboard a plane from Berlin where he watched Euro 2024, the official Anadolu news agency and other media reported.
Turkiye originally aimed to topple Assad’s regime when the Syrian conflict erupted with the violent suppression of peaceful protesters in 2011.
But after backing various insurgent groups, Ankara has more recently shifted focus to preventing what Erdogan in 2019 dubbed a “terror corridor” from opening up in northern Syria.
Erdogan has long said he could reconsider ties with Assad.
Speaking to journalists, he said some leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested a meeting with Assad in Turkiye.
“Now we have come to such a point that as soon as Bashar Assad takes a step toward improving relations with Turkiye, we will show him the same approach,” Erdogan said.
Erdogan’s comments come after tensions have mounted over the past week against Syrian refugees in Turkiye, with a mob attacking properties and vehicles owned by Syrians in central Anatolian city of Kayseri.
Turkiye, which hosts some 3.2 million Syrian refugees according to UN data, has been shaken several times by bouts of xenophobic violence in recent years, often triggered by rumors spreading on social media and instant messaging applications.
The fate of Syrian refugees is also a burning issue in Turkish politics, with Erdogan’s opponents in last year’s election promising to send them back to Syria.
Erdogan says may invite Syria’s Assad to Turkiye ‘at any moment’
https://arab.news/5z7nm
Erdogan says may invite Syria’s Assad to Turkiye ‘at any moment’
- Erdogan has long said he could reconsider ties with Assad
- Tensions have mounted over the past week against Syrian refugees in Turkiye
UK slaps sanctions on Sudan RSF paramilitary deputy, other commanders
- The Foreign Office in London said those targeted include RSF second-in-command Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo
- They are accused of “mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians”
LONDON: The UK Friday imposed sanctions on senior commanders of Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) suspected of “heinous violence” in the Darfur hub of El-Fasher, which the paramilitary group captured in October.
The Foreign Office in London said those targeted include RSF second-in-command Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo, whose brother Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo is the group’s leader, as well as three other commanders.
They are accused of “mass killings, systematic sexual violence and deliberate attacks on civilians” when the RSF dislodged the Sudanese army from El-Fasher, its last stronghold in the western Darfur region.
They now face UK asset freezes and travel bans.
The government said the RSF’s actions in El-Fasher were “not random” but instead “part of a deliberate strategy to terrorize populations and seize control through fear and violence.”
It added satellite imagery showed evidence of mass graves where victims have been burned and buried, and the sanctions send “a clear message that those who commit atrocities will be held to account.”
The European Union last month also slapped sanctions on Abdelrahim Hamdan Dagalo.
In a statement unveiling the UK curbs, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper said the atrocities taking place in Sudan “are so horrific they scar the conscience of the world.”
“The overwhelming evidence of heinous crimes — mass executions, starvation, and the systematic and calculated use of rape as a weapon of war — cannot and will not go unpunished,” she added.
“The UK will not look away, and we will always stand with the people of Sudan.”
Minni Minawi, the army-aligned governor of Darfur, welcomed the UK sanctions “as an important step toward holding accountable those responsible for the crimes and violations witnessed in Sudan in recent times.”
But he added the measures “remain incomplete” unless they also target Mohammad Hamdan Dagalo, “as he is the decision-maker and the direct architect of the violence system.”
London also announced Friday £21 million ($28 million) in additional aid to provide food, clean water, health care, and protection for women and children in areas of Sudan hardest hit by violence.
It said the financial package took UK aid spending in Sudan this year to £146 million.
