Davutoglu: "After meeting with Assad, the world will be watching"

Urging an end to Syria's violent crackdown, Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu yesterday met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad for over six hours. The first half of the meeting at the Prime Minister's Palace was held among delegations chaired by Davutoglu and Assad. This meeting was also attended by Davutoglu's Syrian counterpart Velid Muallim and Assad's advisor Buseyna Shaaban, who recently lashed out at Ankara's criticisms of Syria. Later Davutoglu and Assad held a private meeting. Speaking to reporters after returning to Ankara, Davutoglu said he had delivered messages from both President Abdullah Gul and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Assad. "During the meeting, we discussed the issues with our Syrian friends in a clear and determined way," added Davutoglu. "Mr. Assad also voiced his views in both the inter-delegation meeting and our private meeting." When asked if Assad had promised to end the violent crackdown and if messages from the US had been delivered, Davutoglu said that he couldn't go into detail, but that he had not delivered messages from anyone but Turkey, and that Assad had clearly been urged to end conflicts between the army and Syrian people. Davutoglu added that the international community will be watching what happens in the coming days. Assad reportedly told Davutoglu that Syria wouldn't tolerate armed terrorist groups threatening public order and safety. Stating that Syria is determined to carry through comprehensive reforms, Assad said that he is open to get help from friendly countries with this process.