In the Turkish media some pieces of news and articles have been printed regarding a call by H.E. Mr. Minister to isolate the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China unless these countries change their policies on Syria, at the 3rd meeting of the Group of Friends of the Syrian People (“The Friends’ Group”) held on 6th of July in Paris.

H.E. Mr. Minister did not mention any country by name during his talk at this meeting in question.

The issues mentioned during our H.E. Mr. Minister’s talk, in the light of the great interest and high level of participation of the international community in this meeting , are the necessity to increase the pressure on the Syrian regime and make an effort to change the attitude of those who support the regime through their isolation. This assessment reflects a step that we think should be taken to end the humanitarian tragedy that has been taking place in Syria.

The differences between Turkey’s policies on Syria and other countries approaches to this matter should be taken as a natural phenomenon. As a matter of fact, countries which stay close to the Syrian regime are able to criticize the conduct of the other member countries in The Friends’ Group. Nevertheless, channels of regular consultations and dialogue at every level are available to review the differences of our opinions regarding Syria with these countries, including the RF and the PRC, openly and transparently. We maintain our engagement on this issue.

Yet, that being the case, basing on the diversity of views on Syria-issue and presenting this as an issue of conflict between Turkey and Russia clearly manifest a malicious distortion of facts.