He Was Overall a Useful Player: Turkey's Foreign Minister

Turkey did not participate in the operations of the armed opposition in Syria that led to the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad's regime. This was announced by Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

“Turkey has not been a part of such a process. After the launch of actions by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other opposition groups, we made intensive efforts to ensure that it was carried out in the least bloody way, but we have not merged with any country or group beforehand, nor have we participated in such planning,” he said.

According to Fidan, he has not met with the former president of Syria to discuss the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, but such attempts have been made multiple times through third countries' mediation.

“We have tried to come, we have wanted to, they have rejected us. We have even used countries in the region, particularly Iraq, as intermediaries. Assad has given negative responses to everyone,” Fidan said.

According to the head of Turkey’s Foreign Ministry, Israel has never wanted Assad to leave. “Israel has never wanted Assad to go. Assad was overall a useful player for them,” Hakan Fidan stated.