UPDATE: According to RT this interview will be shown Thursday- so interesting timing again.
"The interview, which Rossiya-24 channel will show in full on Thursday"
Darn, I'll have to wait!Why the change in tone? At this time?
Assad: "What hostile action - big or small - did the Syrian people commit against the Turkish people? There is no such thing."
Perhaps between the people there hasn't been hostility- Recalling when Tozz was a commenter here at the blog years ago. He was a resident of Aleppo City at that time. A typical Syrian. Sunni. Arab. Because, yes, in fact, that is largely what constitutes the Syrian population. Tozz definitely spoke of brotherly relations between the Turks and Syrians. Particularly in Aleppo City. Including the trade deal that I'd mentioned more then once. But between the governments? Not always brotherly.Especially when Syria kept PKK leader Ocalan safe... Turkey and Syria nearly came to blows at that time. This was settled diplomatically resulting in the Adana Accord
-
Turkey, Syria, Iran and the Adana Agreement: The End of Pax Adana
-
Russia/Turkey/Syria 2019 & the Adana Agreement of 1998 Still Valid
Covered here & ignored everywhere else long before Putin started talking about it publicly a couple of years back
Assad...."There are Syrian-Turkish marriages, there are families, there are vital common interests. This mutual cultural interaction is historically determined, it is illogical that we have some serious disagreement between our countries"Assad told the Russia-24 TV channel in an interview.
Assad...:"Of course, we're speaking about the Turkish people as a brotherly nation. I'm asking the Turkish people, what's your problem with Syria? What's the problem that Turkish citizens should die for?" Assad asked."
It's a bit disingenuous, all things considered but surely it will play well to the targeted audience. Yet, Assad surely understands the US/Kurdish occupation is a huge problem for Turkey. Interesting acknowledgement from the sputnik article:
"The Turkish military was given permission to establish a dozen observation posts in the militant-controlled Idlib region under the 2018 Sochi accords"
Very rare to see that acknowledged. The recent bombing of the Turkish forces in an area of Syria they are known and allowed to be in was provocative, to say the leastIt doesn't appear Russia was on board with this move. As the last few days of activity in Idlib make very clear!
-
Have Turkey and Russia Made A Deal Regarding Airspace Acess over Idlib ?
Also noted by Andrew Korbyko
Of course this is not the entire interview, just a few small quotes. So why mention it at all ?Well, it's the day before Erdogan and Putin meet in Russia and I'm wondering if we can take away anything from the tone of those statements? Thoughts?