Turkey Expresses Willingness To Restore Diplomatic Ties With Syria (X image@fsasoldier)
President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that there is no stumbling block that is preventing Turkey from restoring diplomatic ties with Syria which were cut off more than a decade ago during the Syrian civil war. Erdogan’s comment came days after Syrian President Bashar Assad made the similar remarks. He indicated willingness to end the tensions and normalize relations.
During the conflict in Syria, Ankara supported the armed opposition groups of the country’s northwest aiming to oust Assad from power. The Syrian government has repeatedly condemned Turkey’s control over a territory that it took hold of through several military incursions since 2016 targeting U.S.-backed Kurdish forces that Turkey regards as terrorists.
Erdogan said there is no reason why the diplomatic ties should not be established, in the same way the relationship was kept alive in the past. Erdogan referred to a vacation that both his and Assad’s family took in the southern Turkey in 2008, before their relationship went downhill.
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“There is no reason why (diplomatic ties) should not be established in the same way that we kept our relations with Syria alive in the past — we had these meetings with Mr Assad that included family meetings — we cannot say that it will not happen again, he told reporters.
Earlier this week, Syrian state media reported that in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, Assad “affirmed Syria’s openness to all initiatives related to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, based on the sovereignty of the Syrian state over all its territories on the one hand, and combating all forms of terrorism and its organizations on the other hand”.
Lavrentiev replied that the current situation seems more suitable than ever for the success of mediations, and Russia is ready to work to push the negotiations forward. “The goal is to succeed in restoring relations between Syria and Turkey”, he further added.
Stating the Syrians to be brothers, Erdogan said there is no question of Ankara having the aim of interfering in Damascus’ internal affairs.
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Marking the highest level of contact between the two countries since the start of Syrian civil war, Foreign Ministers of bot Turkey and Syria met in Moscow alongside counterparts from Russia and Iran. However, the talks were not fruitful back then.
Turkey has been trying to mend issues with Syria as the government faces increased pressure at home to repatriate millions of Syrian refugees amid the steep economic crisis and anti-refugee sentiment in the country.
Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in the opposition-held Syrian city of Idlib and in surrounding areas to protest reports that a key crossing between government-held territory and areas held by Turkish-backed opposition groups in Aleppo province will soon reopen to commercial traffic, for the first time since the beginning of the country’s civil war.
The protesters were carrying banners reading “opening the crossings with the regime is a crime and a betrayal of the blood of the martyrs”, and called for opening battles not borders.
