Turkiye: We convinced Russia, Iran to avoid military intervention for Assad

Turkiye successfully convinced Russia and Iran not to intervene militarily in Syria during the Syrian opposition factions’ offensive, which led to the fall of Bashar Al-Assad, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Friday.

“The most critical issue was engaging with the Russians and Iranians and ensuring they would not intervene militarily. We spoke to them, and they understood. They realised this was no longer meaningful,” Fidan said.

In a live interview broadcast on Turkiye’s NTV channel, the foreign minister added: “To minimise loss of life as much as possible, we worked to achieve the objective without bloodshed by continuing targeted negotiations with two key players capable of using force.”

He explained that if Al-Assad had received support from Russia and Iran, “the opposition’s victory would have taken much longer and would have been bloody. However, the Russians and Iranians saw that this was no longer a viable approach. The man they invested in was no longer someone worth investing in. Furthermore, the circumstances in the region and globally have fundamentally changed.”

The Turkish embassy in Damascus resumed operations on Saturday after being closed for 12 years.

Turkiye hosts some four million Syrians, the vast majority registered as refugees. Fidan said the number of Syrians returning to their country would gradually increase as Syria stabilises.

READ: Who is fighting in Syria and why?