“There is no such plan [to send an envoy to Syria]. We don't believe this is needed at the moment,” a senior Turkish official, speaking to Today's Zaman on condition of anonymity, said.
Al-Arabiya TV reported over the weekend that the Turkish government will send an envoy this week to Damascus to deliver a letter, calling on Assad to implement promised reforms, end a brutal crackdown on anti-regime protesters and remove his brother Maher al-Assad from command of the Fourth Armored Division, which has been mostly in charge of quelling the unrest. The report also stated that Turkey would offer Maher al-Assad asylum or help him find refuge in Europe.
However, the Turkish official said Turkey has already been in close contact with the Syrian administration over the past days, a fact that makes dispatching an envoy unnecessary at this point. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan spoke to Assad over the phone on Tuesday, and the next day Assad sent a special envoy, Hassan Turkmani, to Ankara. Turkmani had talks with Erdoğan on Wednesday and with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu on Thursday.
Turkish leaders have enjoyed warm ties with Assad until recently, but relations appear to have become strained amid Ankara's criticism of Syria's brutal crackdown on protests against Assad's rule. The opposition estimates more than 1,400 Syrians have been killed and 10,000 detained as Assad's forces try to preserve his grip on power. Nearly 11,000 people have fled to Turkey to escape the violence.
Prime Minister Erdoğan has previously targeted Maher al-Assad in his criticism of the crackdown, which he has called “savagery.”
