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Anti-Assad protesters attacked the leader of a Turkish-backed opposition coalition Salim al-Muslat during protests against talks possible rapprochement between Turkish and Syrian ministers in the northern city of Azaz, under the control of Turkey and the Syrian Interim Government.
The protestors dismissed Muslat as a “traitor” as his bodyguards drove him away from the scene. After the attack, Muslat told Rudaw news network that the coalition would not accept Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying “If we compromise with the regime, then we have no dignity.”
Muslat met with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu at the beginning of January after the Turkish and Syrian defence ministers’ meeting. “Turkey is a strong ally of the Syrian revolution and opposition,” he said, adding that he hoped that this would not change.
Ankara and Damascus had very close relations before the start of Syria’s civil war, until Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan started supporting the rebel groups in their insurgency against Assad.
After more than a decade of open hostility, Erdoğan first stated his desire to reconcile with the Assad regime in August.
In a rare insight into the matter, a Turkish source told Reuters in September that Assad considered NATO member Turkey’s soldiers in Syria to be invaders, and also that Erdoğan wanted to see Syrian rebels included in any talks with Damascus.
Assad said that Ankara’s “support for terrorism” must stop, in his first public comments on possible reconciliation talks between the two governments on Thursday, referring to Erdoğan’s support for the opposition groups protesting against the rapprochement talks.
