TUNIS, Tunisia \u2014 Syria\u2019s peace efforts cannot include President Bashar Assad, Turkey\u2019s leader said Wednesday, calling him a \u201cterrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke during a visit to Tunisia at the end of a four-day Africa trip focusing on economic issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At a joint news conference with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi, Erdogan called Assad a \u201cterrorist who engaged in state terrorism\u201d and should not be part of Syria\u2019s post-conflict future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHow can we embrace a future with a Syrian leader who has killed close to a million of his citizens?\u201d said the Turkish leader, whose country has seen a flood of refugees from neighboring Syria during the fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Turning to another highly sensitive Middle East issue, Erdogan and Essebsi said their nations would never accept changes to Jerusalem\u2019s historic status after President Donald Trump\u2019s recognition of the city as Israel\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cJerusalem is our red line. Any steps against Jerusalem\u2019s historic status and holiness are unacceptable,\u201d Erdogan said, adding that his country will work toward international recognition of the Palestinian state and seek the support of the European Union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish leader also vowed to help support Tunisia overcome economic hardships and combat extremism. Erdogan, who also was attending a Turkish-Tunisian economic forum, was accompanied by a delegation of nine ministers and 200 businessmen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Erdogan earlier visited Sudan and Chad, where he signed military and economic deals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim was paying a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met Wednesday with King Salman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The two countries recently have been at odds over regional issues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following his accession to power in 2015, King Salman sought to improve relations with Turkey to form a so-called Sunni axis against rival Shiite-led Iran. However, the kingdom\u2019s move in June to lead a four-nation boycott of Qatar and cut off ties with the Gulf state led to new tensions with Turkey, which has sided with Qatar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Turkish prime minister\u2019s office said Yildirim and King Salman exchanged views on \u201cregional challenges and problems.\u201d They also emphasized the importance of Jerusalem\u2019s status and the need for the Islamic world to act in unity to protect the rights of Palestinian \u201cbrothers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yildirim was also expected to meet Saudi Arabia\u2019s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bouazza Ben Bouazza in Tunis, Tunisia; Aya Batrawy in Dubai, United Arab Emirates; Suzan Fraser in Ankara, Turkey and Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Syria\u2019s peace efforts cannot include President Bashar Assad, Turkey\u2019s leader said Wednesday, calling him a \u201cterrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":93311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26,65],"tags":[],"coauthors":[2819],"class_list":["post-53963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"UYYERE7RZZCHPITMPFW6PCPCWE","arc_canonical_url":"\/flashpoints\/2017\/12\/27\/turkish-president-calls-syrias-assad-a-terrorist\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n