Turkey suggests that Syria’s vice president replace Assad
ANKARA – Agence France-Presse – 7.10.2012 – Syrian Vice President Faruq al-Shara “is a man of reason” who could replace President Bashar al-Assad as the head of a transition administration to stop Syria’s civil war, according to Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu.
“Faruq al-Shara is a man of reason and conscience and he has not taken part in the massacres in Syria. Nobody knows the (Syrian) system better than he,” Davutoğlu said yesterday on the public television channel TRT. The Turkish minister stressed that the Syrian opposition “is inclined to accept Shara” as the future leader of the Syrian administration.Shara, the most visible Sunni Muslim figure in the minority Alawite-led government, is trusted by the regime and was foreign minister for 15 years before becoming vice president in 2006. Reports that he had defected in August were denied by Damascus, but some opposition leaders say he is apparently under house arrest. Davutoğlu said he was convinced that the Syrian vice president was still in Syria.