Turkish PM Yıldırım stresses ‘lasting peace’ in Syria

Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım on Sunday emphasized on "ensuring permanent peace" in Syria by establishing a new government in the Middle Eastern country.

"We have taken initiative with Russia and Iran to end the civil war, which has been going on in Syria for 7 years and to end the turmoil," Yıldırım said at the provincial congress of ruling AK Party in southern Burdur province.

"The next step is to achieve lasting peace. In other words, the establishment of a new government in Syria, where all the groups that have not been involved in terrorism and all ethnic groups will be included, taking territorial integrity into account," Yıldırım said.

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million others displaced, according to UN officials.