A Turkish newspaper reported Monday that Turkey has made a new proposal to Russia, which calls for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to step down in the first three months of 2013.

A Turkish newspaper reported Monday that Turkey has made a new proposal to Russia, which calls for Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad to step down in the first three months of 2013 and for the transition process to be undertaken by the so-called “Syrian National Coalition”, which was lately recognized as the sole representative of Syrians by Arab and Western states.

According to the Turkish speaking newspaper, Radikal, “the plan was discussed during Russian President Vladimir Putin's meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul on December 3.”

The paper further indicated that “Ankara, which has been tightlipped on the new proposal, is seeking to deprive Assad of Russian and Iranian support,” and that “the plan is likely to be turned down by Assad but it might change the course of the 21-month conflict due to the international community's support.”

Here, Radikal noted that “the United States, Egypt, Qatar, Russia and the United Nations have been debating the Ankara-led proposal over the past 10 days.”