Trump: Assad’s Overthrow an Unfriendly Takeover by Turkey

By Staff, Agencies

US President-elect Donald Trump viewed on Monday that Turkey is behind the regime change in Syria, in his first press briefing since the November election. Trump called the overthrow of Bashar Assad and his government an “unfriendly takeover” by Ankara.

“Those people that went in are controlled by Turkey, and that’s OK,” Trump stated. He added that he considers Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a “smart” and “very tough” guy for succeeding in the overthrow of the Syrian leadership.

“[Turkey] wanted [Syria] for thousands of years, and he got it… Turkeydid an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost,” Trump added. He also praised what he described as Turkey’s “major military force” which “has not been worn out with war.”

“Nobody knows what the final outcome is going to be in the region. Nobody knows who will rule in the final... Right now, Syria has a lot of indefinites, but I think Turkey is going to hold the key to Syria,” the president-elect predicted.

Turkey shares its longest land border with Syria, over 900km, and had been a main backer of opposition groups aiming to topple Assad since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.