Moscow’s Decision to Normalize Ties with Turkey Would Reflect Positively on Political Settlement in Syria

MOSCOW, (ST)-Russia’s decision to normalize ties with Turkey may reflect positively on the process of finding political settlement in Syria and on efforts to combat international terrorism, Russian Ambassador to Syria Alexander Kinschak told Itar Tass news agency on Thursday.

“Partnership between Russia and Turkey, mainly in terrorism fighting, will be of great positive effect on the development of the situation in Syria,” Kinschak said.

 In a statement to Ria Novosti news agency, Kinschak didn’t rule out progress in the issue of sealing the borders between Turkey and Syria as to prevent terrorists from infiltrating into Syria.

“If we established a ground for combating terrorism, if our possible Turkish partners understand that terrorism poses serious threat to them and if we start working within a unified program to combat terrorism, the Turkish partner will certainly close the borders,” the ambassador clarified.

He also stressed that  there is no great need for a permanent Russian military base in Syria, the corresponding issue will be decided by the Russian Defense Ministry depending on the country’s military-political situation.

Western Media Coverage of Syrian Conflict Biased

According to Kinschak, Western media are biased when they cover events in Syria and they present a one-sided vision on the issue.

“The fact that they [Western media] are quite heavily biased when they cover the Syrian conflict is not a secret for anybody. And besides, the information quite often deliberately presents a one-sided view,” Kinschak told Rossiya 24 television.

He added that the example with the historical Syrian city of Palmyra was very illustrative of the Western attitude towards coverage of news in the country.

Hamda Mustafa