...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire....
recognizes it is no longer "realistic" to reach a solution to the conflict in Syria without
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Despoiler of Deraa...
, a top Turkish official said on Friday.
"We have to be pragmatic, realistic. The facts on the ground have changed dramatically," Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mehmet Simsek said at a panel on Syria and Iraq at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell...
. "Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad. It is not realistic."
As one of the main rebel backers, Turkey has long insisted al-Assad step down as part of any political solution to the nearly six-year civil war. But Ankara has refined its stance towards Syria in recent months, standing by as Aleppo fell to the regime and reconciling with the Syrian president's main backer Russia.