Protests in northern Syria slam Turkish minister’s remarks

By ZEYNEP BILGINSOY and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

ISTANBUL (AP) — Hundreds of Syrian opposition supporters have rallied in several locations in northwestern Syria to denounce remarks by Turkey’s foreign minister urging them to reconcile with Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government. Demonstrators at one of the rallies on Friday, outside a Turkish military post in the northwestern Syrian town of Mastoumeh, chanted that the “Turkish army is a traitor” and that “Syrian people are not for sale.” Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has drawn rebuke from Syria’s opposition after he said Turkey supports a political reconciliation between Syrian opposition factions and Assad’s government — for the sake of peace.