TURKEY: President Abdullah Gul says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should consider stepping aside in a deal similar to the one under which Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has relinquished office

Record ID: 280380

  • Title: TURKEY: President Abdullah Gul says Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should consider stepping aside in a deal similar to the one under which Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has relinquished office
  • Date: 2nd March 2012
  • Summary: BOY HOLDING A SYRIAN FLAG
  • Embargoed: 17th March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey, Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA9RAD0V2S21T8V5EKNOYP9YN4Q
  • Story Text: Turkish President Abdullah Gul said on Thursday (March 1) recent events in Yemen could provide a model for a peaceful democratic transition in Syria.
    He urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to consider a similar deal under which he would to step aside as Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh had done.
    "The most reasonable solution is that one (the Yemen model). That is a model. Because all the other options will harm Syrian people and Syrian state. Therefore, that is the best example. I hope that (Syrian) President Bashar al-Assad and his relatives will realize that. The best favour they can do themselves, to the Syrian people and to the Syrian state would be to accept this option," Gul said in an interview with Reuters.
    Yemen's Saleh stepped aside in November under a deal hammered out by Yemen's Gulf neighbours, eager to end months of anti-Saleh protests that paralysed the country for most of 2011.
    Yemen's new president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, was inaugurated on Monday (February 27) after elections in which he was the sole candidate to replace longtime ruler Saleh.
    The power transfer, which was backed by the United States, has been touted by regional and Western powers as a triumph of diplomacy.
    The deal brokered by the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) gives Saleh and aides immunity from prosecution, and envisions a new constitution and a referendum paving the way for a multi-party election in two years.
    Gul said Assad's regime had thrown away the chance to stay in office because he had reneged on his promises.
    "If the referendum and constitutional changes had been enacted in the first place they might have been meaningful. But now everything is 'too little too late'," Gul said.
    Gul warned that developments in Syria heading towards the "worst case scenario".
    The Turkish president urged the Syrian opposition to avoid settling scores and "an extreme style of ruling" once Assad's regime had fallen.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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