Syrian rebels and Damascus ‘should reconcile’, Turkish foreign minister said today Mevlut Cavusogluechoing his call last week that sparked anti-Turkish protests in the districts Syria which are under the control of the rebels.

“The regime and the opposition must reconcile. Here is what I said (…) We believe that reconciliation is necessary for lasting peace in Syria,” Cavusoglu said at a joint press conference with his Latvian counterpart Edgars Rinkevics.

The Turkish minister already called last Thursday for “reconciliation between the opposition and the regime in Syria” after eleven years of war. The next day, thousands of Syrians demonstrated in rebel-controlled areas denouncing Cavusoglu’s statements.

“I used the word reconciliation (not peace),” he stressed today, stressing that his words were “falsified.”

In addition, the Turkish minister noted that his statements do not indicate a change in Turkey’s position on Syria.

Since the start of the war in Syria in 2011, Ankara, which has deployed troops along the border with a neighboring country, strongly opposes the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and supports the rebel groups.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Assad’s regime “bloody” in May.

Cavusoglu’s remarks came shortly after Erdogan’s August 5 meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, a Damascus ally who has pushed for normalization of Turkish-Syrian relations.

^{Source: APE-MEB, AFP.}