Ankara "has given a green light" to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remaining in an interim government in Syria, Murat Yetkin of Hurriyet Daily News noted, calling the move "a major shift in Turkey's Syria policy."
"The most important priority for us is to stop the bloodshed as soon as possible," Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told a press conference in Istanbul on August 20, as quoted by the journalist.
Thus far, Ankara has signaled that it could contribute to the settlement of the Syrian crisis together with Russia, Iran, the US, Saudi Arabia and other parties concerned.
"But will that solution be with or without Bashar al-Assad?" Yetkin asks.
The journalist underscores that up to now the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) has insisted that Bashar al-Assad should step down and claimed that his resignation is a "must" for the Syrian peace process.
However, while Yildirim says that "Assad cannot be part of Syria's future, as he is not a unifying element for the Syrian people," he also acknowledges that "for a transition [government], it is possible to sit and talk [with Assad]."
"It is obvious that, whether we like it or not, al-Assad is an actor," Yildirim admitted as quoted by Yetkin.
"It is out of the question that we will talk with him. They [al-Assad and the opposition] are the counterparts. They should sit and talk… Fixing an issue to one thing or person means you consenting to the deadlock," the Turkish prime minister told Hurriyet Daily News.
What lies at the root of Ankara changing its position on Syrian President Assad?
Amberin Zaman, a Bengali-Turkish journalist and public policy scholar at The Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, DC, suggests that a potential thaw could have been triggered by the fact that both Ankara and Damascus oppose the creation of a Kurdish independent entity in northern Syria.
"Speculation about a possible thaw between Ankara and Damascus intensified over the weekend when Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim dropped fresh hints that Turkey would no longer be pushing for Assad's ouster," Zaman writes in her article for Al-Monitor.
Zaman recalls that while Ankara and Damascus are still on opposite sides, both denounced the so-called Northern Syria Federation, declared by the Syrian Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) in March, as "illegal."
It was reported that the relations between Damascus and the PYD's military group People's Protection Units (YPG) have recently become tense in Syria's al-Hasakah province.
In an interview with Sputnik Al-Hasakah Mayor Muhammed Zaalan Al-Ali narrated that Kurdish militants had allegedly blocked the al-Hasaka-al-Qamishli road, thus far preventing the advance of the Syrian government's forces.
"We appreciate Kurdish forces' help in the fight against terrorists last year, when 500 Kurdish soldiers were killed and 900 more wounded. But we wonder why the PKK [the Kurdistan Workers' Party]has now turned their weapon against the Syrian Army and other government organizations, even though the country's army previously supported the Kurds in their fight against armed terrorists," he told Sputnik.
For its part, Turkey has signaled that Syria's territorial integrity remains one of the important parts of Ankara's new plan aimed at resolving the Syrian crisis.
