YEREVAN, APRIL 11, ARMENPRESS. Ankara will not return control over Afrin to the Syrian government as long as Bashar al-Assad is the leader of the country, ARMENPRESS reports Turkish foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.

“Assad’s regime must resign. It’s necessary to shift to the process of a political settlement. We have no ambitions towards Syrian territories but we rule out returning those lands to the regime”, Çavuşoğlu said.

The Turkish minister emphasized that Afrin is a Syrian territory, but Turkey is concerned over its security. Russian FM Sergey Lavrov has announced that Moscow hopes Ankara will return control over Afrin to the Syrian government. Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has condemned Lavrov’s proposal, saying “Lavrov’s approach is not right. We know better than anyone whom to return Afrin. When time comes we will return Afrin to its residents”, Erdoğan said.

English –translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan