Turkey's Bahceli: Assad should not be in Syria's future

By Fatih Hafız Mehmet

ANKARA

Bashar al-Assad should not be present in Syria's future, Turkey's Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli said on Saturday.

In a series of tweets, Bahceli added the Syrian people should make the political decision on Assad in Syria's future.

He also called for the repatriation of Syrians living in Turkey.

"The repatriation of Syrians in our country should be done in a planned and urgent way," Bahceli said.

He said new waves of migration will "darken" the future of Turkish people.

"Assad and [Russian President] Putin should give up dropping bombs in Idlib and sabotage the search for a cease-fire," Bahceli added.

Five civilians were killed and seven others injured in airstrikes carried out by Syrian regime forces and Russian warplanes in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province on Saturday, according to the White Helmets.

At least 26 civilians have been killed and dozens injured in airstrikes and attacks by regime forces and Russian warplanes in Idlib and Hama since the beginning of this month, the group said.

The Syrian regime has recently announced plans to launch a major military offensive in the area, which has long been controlled by various armed opposition groups.

The UN warned earlier this week that such an offensive would lead to the "worst humanitarian catastrophe in the 21st century".

A trilateral summit of the presidents of Turkey, Russia and Iran on Friday underlined that “there could be no military solution to the Syrian conflict" and called for advancing the political process to reach a negotiated solution.