President Erdogan Calls Syria Must Find Political Solutions From War

President Erdogan. (Source: Presidency of The Republic of Turkiye)

JAKARTA - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday, Syria must immediately engage its people and "immediately" find "political solutions" to civil war in the country, adding Turkey is trying to ease tensions and protect civilians.

"The Syrian regime must immediately involve its own people to work towards a comprehensive political solution," he said in a phone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, according to a statement released by the Directorate of Communications, reported by the Daily Sabah December 6.

Turkey has been home to about three million Syrian refugees since the war began in 2011. President Erdogan himself has held a number of discussions with other leaders over the crisis in recent days.

Soroti, konflik telah mencapai "tahap baru," ia mengatakan kepala PBB, "keinginan terbesar Turki adalah agar Syria tidak terlibat dalam institusi yang lebih besar dan melihat lebih banyak korban sipil."

He stressed that Ankara had worked hard to defuse tensions, protect civilians, pave the way for the political process and promised to continue to do so.

Meanwhile, Secretary General Guterres said he told President Erdogan of "the urgent need for immediate humanitarian access to all civilians in need and returning to the UN-facilitated political process to end the bloodshed."

"All parties are obliged by international law to protect civilians," he told reporters on Thursday.

He further said the escalating conflict was the result of "chronological collective failure" of diplomacy, as he called for an end to fighting.

"We see bitter fruit from the chronic collective failure of a previous de-escalation arrangement to produce a true national ceasefire or a serious political process to implement Security Council resolutions," he said.

"After 14 years of conflict, it is time for all parties to engage seriously with Geir Pedersen, my Special Envoy for Syria, to finally map out a new, inclusive and comprehensive approach to resolve this crisis in accordance with the resolution of the 2254 Security Council," Guterres explained.

It is known that the resolution adopted by the Security Council in 2015 established a roadmap for the political transition in Syria.

As previously reported, the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group, a former al-Qaeda affiliate, launched a new attack from their stronghold in northwestern Syria last week.

Over the weekend, rebels seized Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, before moving south and entering the city of Hama on Thursday.