ISTANBUL: The end of the Baath regime in Syria is also Türkiye’s victory, said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday.
“The end of the Baath regime’s tyranny is the victory of our Syrian brothers, and it is also our victory as their neighbors,” Erdogan said.
Emphasizing the unity and brotherhood among all ethnic groups in the region, Erdogan stated: “Let everyone understand and accept this; as Turks, Arabs, Kurds, and Turkmens, we are one, we are together. We are all children of the same land, the same history, and the same future.”
Touching on the terrorism in the region, Erdogan said that the era of exploiting the region by using terrorist organizations has come to an end, adding the period of using terrorism as a weapon, and tool is over.
Stressing that terrorism and politics cannot coexist, Erdogan said that either the guns pointed at Türkiye will be buried, or those who point guns at the country will be buried, adding: “There is no third path, no alternative.”
Erdogan expressed a desire for an end to terrorism, wishing for the dark shadow of terror to be lifted from the country and the region:
“We want our shared geography to be marked not by tension and instability, but by economic, commercial, and human cooperation.
“We want the sun of brotherhood to warm the hearts in these lands where we have lived peacefully together for a thousand years, instead of the cold face of terrorism. As the ancient owners of Damascus, Aleppo, Hasakah, Erbil, Sulaymaniyah, Kirkuk, and Baghdad, we want to rid ourselves of the calamity of terrorism. God willing, we will succeed,” he added.
Bashar Assad, Syria’s leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party regime, which had been in power since 1963.
