Turkey's defense minister on Sunday offered military assistance to the new Syrian government in training the rebels' military forces.
The Turkish defense minister added that he was under the impression that the new Syrian government should be given a chance in light of the positive messages that have been heard in recent days from its senior officials.
Last night (Saturday), Turkey reopened its embassy in the country after it was closed for a short period due to the changes of government. The move came a few days after the head of Turkish intelligence visited the capital, Damascus.
"In their first statement, the new administration that toppled Assad announced that it would respect all government institutions, the United Nations and other international organizations," said Yasser Güler, Turkey's defense minister.
"We think we need to see what the new administration will do and give them a chance," he added. On the question of whether Syria plans to cooperate militarily with the new administration, he replied that Turkey has cooperation with many countries. It should be noted that Turkey is one of the NATO countries.
"Turkey is ready to provide the necessary support if the new administration requests it," the defense minister added.
Turkey is estimated to have several thousand troops in towns including Afrin, Izz and Jarabulus in northwestern Syria and Ras al-Ain and Tal Abyad in the northeast.
It seems that Turkey is interested in taking advantage of the vacuum created in Syria in favor of a de facto takeover of the country, in the same way that the axis of evil led by Iran has so far behaved.
These days, Turkey continues to bomb Kurdish civilians and soldiers in places still under the control of the ethnic group's forces.
* Kikar Hashabbat contributed to this article.
