Turkey says united, peaceful Syria impossible with Assad

Reuters

Published Jan 13, 2017 10:40AM ET

Updated Jan 13, 2017 10:50AM ET

Turkey says united, peaceful Syria impossible with Assad

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey still believes a united and peaceful Syria is impossible with President Bashar al-Assad but wants to proceed "step-by-step" and see the outcome of planned peace talks in Astana, President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman said on Friday.

"Our position on Assad is clear. We don't believe that a united, peaceful Syria will be possible with Assad remaining in power. But we will see how Astana talks go, we want to go step by step at this point," Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said.