Merkel made the comment on Thursday after a European Union summit on the asylum seeker crisis.
"We have to speak with many actors; this includes Assad, but others as well," Merkel said. "Not only with the United States of America, Russia, but with important regional partners, Iran, and Sunni countries such as Saudi Arabia."
The comments by the leader of Europe's biggest political and economic power come amid increasing signs that Western powers who were once insistent on Assad's departure may be softening their positions in a bid to end the war.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday that although Assad must step down, that need not immediately be upon reaching a settlement to end the country's civil war.
British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond has made similar comments.
US-Russia talks
Russia and the US launched military talks on the Syrian conflict last week as Moscow increased its build-up of forces in the war-torn country.
But French President Francois Hollande, whose country is set to launch air strikes against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group, insisted on Thursday that there could be no place for Assad.
"There can be no transition without his departure," Hollande said after the summit. "The future of Syria will not pass through Bashar Assad."
Merkel, Hammond, Hollande and the other EU leaders issued a statement after the Brussels summit calling for a new push for peace.
"As regards Syria, we call for a renewed UN-led international effort to bring an end to the war that has caused so much suffering and forced an estimated 12 million people to leave their homes," the summit statement said.
Source: AFP
aljazeera.com
24/9/15
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Related:
Moscow: US Should Retract Signature to Geneva II if it Wants Syria Regime Change
Putin, Erdogan Plan to Discuss Turkish Stream, Syrian War in Moscow
UN Syria envoy seeks to restart peace talks
Netanyahu, Putin agree plan to avoid Syria clashes
US calls for renewed diplomacy on Syria
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Mögliche Kehrtwende in Syrienpolitik: Merkel erwägt Gespräche mit Assad...
ReplyDeleteDer EU-Sondergipfel in Brüssel stand unter der Überschrift "Fluchtursachen bekämpfen". Darunter fällt auch das Kapitel Syrien. Bürgerkrieg und der Terror des "Islamischen Staates" (IS) haben Millionen Menschen in die Flucht getrieben. Und immer mehr machen sich auf den Weg nach Europa. Das Land muss befriedet werden, sagte Bundeskanzlerin Angela Merkel und deutete eine Kehrtwende an.
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24/9/15
Assad may take part in Syria transition, Erdoğan says...
ReplyDeleteTurkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Bashar al-Assad could take part in the transition process to find a solution in Syria, although he should have place in his country's future.
“Either a transition process without al-Assad, or with al-Assad, is possible. But what is the required is the opposition … Nobody can foresee Syria’s future with al-Assad. It’s not possible to accept a person responsible for killing 300,000 to 350,000 people, a dictator,” Erdoğan said after performing his Eid al-Adha prayer early on Sept. 24 in Istanbul.
Elaborating his discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sept. 23, Erdoğan said he “could not see a clear [perspective] in Russia’s approach to Syria.”
But he also said that the Turkish and Russian foreign ministers would launch a new working group on the Syrian crisis, according to an agreement reached in talks with Putin.
“We have decided to work on this issue at the U.N. General Assembly as a group of three foreign ministers from the U.S., Turkey and Russia,” Erdoğan said, adding that Iran and Saudi Arabia could also be involved in the process. With the participation of the EU, Jordan and Qatar, efforts for Syria could be extended, the president also said................hurriyetdailynews.com
24/9/15