On 18 December 2015, the United Nations Security Council, with regard to the five-years-old conflict in Syria, unanimously adopted its first resolution pertaining a tangible timetable for a political transition.

This resolution reflects the consentual framework and the approach to be taken for a political transition process envisaged in the two Vienna meetings on October 30 and November 14 of the International Syria Support Group. Turkey, sparing no effort to find a political solution to the conflict since the beginning, is a member of this Group.

This resolution foresees a political transition process on the basis of the Geneva Communique of June 30, 2012 and over a timetable that will aim at establishing a transition government with full executive powers through negotiations between the Syrian parties .

Turkey has been supporting a solution in which Bashar Assad would be transitioned out in the envisaged political transition process through absolute transfer of power to a transitional government.

Turkey attaches great importance to the talks between the Assad regime and the Syrian Opposition as part of the political transition process. We would like to emphasize that it is critically important for the success and the legitimacy of these talks that the delegation to represent the Opposition be constructed within the confines of the results and the context of the Riyadh Conference held on December 8-10, 2015 with the participation of all segments of the Syrian opposition.

Attaining peace and stability in Syria will only be possible by establishing a transitional government with full executive powers on the way to free and fair elections in which the people will be able to express their own will and by Assad and the other regime elements with blood on their hands leaving the scene. In this vein, Turkey will continue to contribute to the envisaged political process.