All groups in Syria are 'friends of Turkey'

Turkish FM Ahmet Davutoğlu told a joint news conference on Wednesday with his Indian counterpart, Salman Khurshid, that all groups in Syria are friends of Turkey. Davutoglu said, "To take measure for border security does not mean developing an attitude towards any group in Syria." Davutoglu stated that Turkey had to take certain measures to protect its border security, reminding that the death of a Turkish citizen in Turkish town of Ceylanpinar at Syrian border raised the public's sensitivity about the border security. "To take measure does not mean developing an attitude towards any group in Syria. The developments in Syria and Iraq do not only affect the future of Kurds, but also Arabs and Turkmens," said Davutoglu. Davutoglu asserted that Turkey's vision was to contribute in the establishment of a new regional order in which all communities would live brotherly, in ethnical and sectarian peace.

Referring to the solution process, Davutoglu said, "Solution process in Turkey would serve as a very good example for a new peaceful regional order."

"We should not allow developments outside and between any ethnical and sectarian groups to affect the solution process negatively."

He reiterated his position about the claims of Bashar Assad's recognition of Ras Al Ayn, a town in Syria's Turkey border seized by Democratic Union Party (PYD), a Syrian offshoot of terrorist organization PKK, by saying, "recognition of de facto situations would lead to further bloodshed, and turn the bilateral clash into multilateral one."

"We do not consider ethnical and sectarian identities. When our Kurdish brothers were treated unjustly by the regime in the past, we defended their rights, too," said Davutoglu.

Besides, he expressed that they were in close contact with leader of Kurdish Regional Government Masood Barzani, and would continue to keep in touch regarding the issue.