Davutoglu: "Turkey is not trying to convince Russia"

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu responded to reporters' questions at the opening ceremony of the Istanbul City University, Faculty of Islamic Sciences yesterday. Referring to the meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 18, Davutoglu said, "Though we diverge on some points, the meeting was productive. Every possibility and alternative for addressing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's killings was discussed during the meeting." Stating that the main elements of the agreement reached in Geneva are the establishment of a transitional government and the transfer of full executive authority to this transitional governing body, Davutoglu said that the transfer of executive authority was of primary importance. "If the current government had been acting on legitimate grounds, these elements would not have been expressed in this way," Davutoglu said, adding that the al-Assad administration must leave power in order for all of the elements of the Geneva agreement to be fulfilled. Davutoglu added that Turkey was not trying to convince Russia to drop its resistance to Western pressure over Syria, but is instead consulting with Russia.