Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has accused Turkey of supporting terrorism in Syria.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is directly supporting terrorists by allowing them to enter its territory, Syrian President told Sputnik news agency.

"First of all, he directly supports terrorists. He allows them to move into Turkish territory, to carry out maneuvers with tanks. This concerns not only individuals, he finances them [terrorists] through Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and through Turkey itself, of course. 

He trades oil that has been stolen by Daesh, at the same time carrying out artillery attacks against the Syrian army when it moves close in order to help the terrorists," Assad said.

Turkey, as well as Saudi Arabia, have "crossed all possible red lines, possibly from the first weeks of the Syrian war," according to the president.

The liberation of Palmyra with Russian support questions the seriousness of the US-led campaign against the Daesh, Assad said.

"We had an urge to completely free Syria of terrorists, this isn’t even up for discussion. There are no other ways to protect Syria than by fighting terrorism. Of course, there's the political process too, but the fight against terrorism is key… The occupation of Palmyra by terrorists about a year ago served as evidence of the coalition's failure, its lack of seriousness in the fight against terrorism, especially Daesh. The fact that the freeing of Palmyra happened with Russian help also proves their lack of seriousness," Assad said.

​"Russian support has been the main and most effective factor to achieve these results, so has the support of our friends in Iran, Hezbollah, and other groups in Syria fighting alongside the army," he added.

The format of the new Syrian government should be agreed upon during the Geneva talks, the Syrian President said.

​“That’s the goal of 'Geneva' — an intra-Syrian dialogue during which we will agree on the format of this government. Of course, we have not yet worked out a final understanding, because other Syrian parties have not yet agreed to this principle. Some have agreed, but we will announce how it will be implemented in practice when we work out this principle all together,” Assad said. 

“With regard to how it will be distributed from the technical perspective, as you know, there are ministries with briefcases and without, there are ministers who will join the government without having experience working in it, and how will they resolve the citizens’ daily problems? There are a lot of similar questions that we must discuss in Geneva, but they are not difficult questions. I do not consider them difficult, they can all be resolved,” the Syrian president stressed.

Assad highlighted that the People’s Council will not play any role in this process.

"This process will be carried out between us and the opposition from abroad… The People’s Council regulates the work of the government, but in Syria it does not appoint the cabinet of ministers,” he explained. 

Bashar Assad is not expecting any major changes in the Syrian parliament following the elections scheduled for April 13.

“You can create 100 parties, but that does not mean that they will represent everybody at the elections. Which form will a Syrian citizen approve for going to vote? This question, as you know, does not get resolved fast. Time is needed for its resolution. Every new party must get its point of view, political program across to the citizens…in such difficult conditions it is possible that citizens, due to their nature, will not want to experience innovations,” the Syrian president explained.

“It is possible that when the security situation improves we will have a more positive perspective on this. Then politics will play a more important role for the citizens, than concerns about the questions of daily life. Today, citizens are thinking about their security first of all, about the security of their lives, then — about everyday problems, children’s education, health. Only after that they start to think about other issues,” he said.

Source : MENA