TURKEY: Fleeing Syrians find Bashar al-Assad's words hard to believe as embattled President calls on refugees in Turkey to return as soon as possible

Record ID: 276247

  • Title: TURKEY: Fleeing Syrians find Bashar al-Assad's words hard to believe as embattled President calls on refugees in Turkey to return as soon as possible
  • Date: 21st June 2011
  • Summary: TV SHOWING ASSAD DELIVERING HIS SPEECH MORE OF SYRIANS WATCHING ASSAD ON TV
  • Embargoed: 6th July 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVACQ7JLSP6H520TP6G87S92QRCL
  • Story Text: Fleeing Syrians, who have been taking shelter on the Syrian side of the border crossed into Turkey to watch Assad's address to nation on Monday (June 20).
    Around a dozen Syrians gathered in one villager's house in southern province of Hatay to watch President Bashar al-Assad's speech as embattled Syrian leader pledged national dialogue to resolve the ongoing crisis.
    Assad's address on the "current circumstances" was his first speech since April 16 and his third attempt to compromise ever since the protests began in the southern Hauran Plain on March 18.
    Embattled Syrian leader called on refugees in Turkey to return as soon as possible as he announced a parliamentary election due August and pledged to complete reform package by september.
    However, his words were hard to take for Syrians who crossed the border to listen the speech.
    "In Assad's speeches every two to three months he appears saying that there are reforms..... but all these things are lies," an unidentified Syrian said.
    Assad, facing three months of protests against his rule, said on Monday a national dialogue would start soon.
    In a speech in Damascus, Assad also said he would ask the Justice Ministry to study expanding a recent amnesty, but said it was important to differentiate between "saboteurs" and people with legitimate demands.
    Up to 11,000 Syrian refugees have already crossed into Turkey and Turkish officials say another 10,000 are sheltering close to the border just inside Syria in the olive groves and rich farmland around the town of Jisr al-Shughour.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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