Turkey ‘concerned arms may fall into wrong hands in Syria’

By Salman Siddiqui/Staff ReporterTurkey remains concerned that arms might fall into the “wrong hands” in Syria and wants to help only the “legitimate representatives” of the Syrian people, a senior Turkish government official has said.Murad Bayar, who until Friday was Turkey’s Undersecretary for Defence Industry, told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the recently concluded defence exhibition Dimdex 2014 that Turkey’s main interest was the well-being of the Syrian people. “There has been a very significant suffering of the Syrian people. This is one of our main concerns. We would like Syria to achieve a democratic and stable government that could take care of its own people,” Bayar, who was removed from the post on March 28,  said.Turkey, which has a long border with Syria, has been facing huge consequences of the ongoing conflict that entered its fourth year this month. “We have close to a million refugees already in our country at the moment and we are trying to take good care of them,” he said.In a reference to the Al Qaeda linked groups such as the Al Nusra Front and the ISIS within the Syrian opposition bloc of forces that are fighting the Bashar al-Assad regime, Bayar said that Turkey like other Western countries was very concerned that arms might fall into the “wrong hands” in Syria. “This is our major concern as a neighbouring country, which is why we are trying to help only the legitimate representatives of the people there,” he said.About relations with Iran, the official said that Turkey would like to develop and maintain good relations with all the countries in the region. “We have very good diplomatic relationship with Iran. All the GCC countries, individually we have healthy relations. From time to time, there are issues and different views, but that doesn’t mean in the long run our partnership will not continue,” he said.Bayar, who was the chief of Turkey’s procurement agency since 2004, was removed from his post soon after he concluded his Dimdex 2014 visit in Doha.The Turkish defence ministry only said that the senior official would be given another government post without explaining the reason for his removal. Bayar had been accompanied by a delegation representing 25 Turkish defence companies. He oversaw a ceremony at Dimdex 2014 on March 26 in which Turkey signed an MoU with Qatar to deliver 17 fast patrol boats for the Qatar Coast Guard Services.