Erdogan: It is impossible to preserve my friendship with leaders attacking their own people

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday during an interview with Time Magazine that “I am a person who is inclined to define relations between individuals based on principles. It is impossible to preserve my friendship with people who are allegedly leaders when they are attacking their own people, shooting at them, using tanks and other forms of heavy weaponry.”

When asked if there any kind of prospect for peace in Syria that keeps Assad in power, Erdogan answered: “Even when we had warm contacts with some of Syria's leading figures, we could see that they had no intention of replicating our democracy model. We've always voiced our recommendations; they never actually listened to them.”

Erdogan added that Assad had told him that there are only about 83 political offenders in prison. “But actually there are thousands and thousands. Those individuals have never been involved in violent attacks or uprisings. They've been unfortunately incarcerated based on their faith or their expressions.”