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Saudi-Turkish Consensus on Iran, Hezbollah Impeding Syria Solution | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Adel al-Jubeir (R) greets his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu in the Saudi capital Riyadh. AFP file photo


Ankara- Saudi Arabia and Turkey emphasized matching positions and views on regional matters, particularly Syria and Iraq. Iran and Lebanon’s “Hezbollah” were condemned for playing a negative role, blocking any peaceful solution in Syria.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, speaking after concluding the first ever Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council meeting, called for an immediate peaceful solution for the war ravaging Syria for some six years now.

However, Jubeir stressed that any peace must be established according to the Geneva 1 conference findings that stipulate founding a transitional authority, implementing a nationwide ceasefire, and securing access for humanitarian assistance.

Jubeir said that Iranian and Hezbollah interference is the main obstacle derailing a peaceful solution for Syria.

“Our goal is to keep Syria’s unity and help the nation restore its security and stability so that the Syrian people could start a country that meets their aspirations,” Jubeir said in a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu.

“We will cooperate with the international community to back the Syrian people and implement the Geneva 1 Conference declaration and U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254. And we are hoping that the Astana talks would result in a ceasefire agreement and a mechanism for sending assistance to all Syrian areas,” he stated.

“We believe that the PKK and the PYD are terrorist organizations, and we support any endeavors to exterminate terror in any place in the world. Saudi Arabia is a founding country of the international anti-ISIS alliance,” Jubeir said.

“The Saudi Air Force is conducting regular operations over Syria to target the terrorist group’s positions. We are looking forward to cooperating with (United States) President (Donald) Trump’s administration to step up efforts in order to exterminate ISIS,” the Saudi official added.

For his part, the Turkish foreign minister confirmed the strong ties shared with the Kingdom.

“We (Saudi Arabia and Turkey) have to explain to everybody that since our relation is better, this means that we are going to take the necessary decisions properly,” Saudi state-owned news agency SPA reported Cavusoglu as saying.

“We have joint interests; so we ought to manage better coordination. The decisions we have taken in this meeting are important and we are going to benefit from future meetings,” he said.

Cavusoglu also evoked the anticipated visit of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to each of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Qatar in addition to other Gulf Cooperation Council countries to discuss and study all aspects of cooperation between the GCC and Turkey.