The defense ministers and the intelligence chiefs of Syria and Turkey, accompanied by those of Iran and Russia, held talks on Tuesday in a new attempt sponsored by the Kremlin to bring positions closer to closing the Syrian conflict. Ankara and Moscow described the negotiations as constructive, although efforts to rebuild ties between Turkey and Syria are still pending after years of war.
Bashar Asad begins to be recognized as the winner of the war and Moscow prepares his rehabilitation. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish leader, who has helped the rebels during these 11 years of fighting and has openly wanted the fall of the Asad regime in Damascus, now says that he would be willing to meet Assad face to face. All this with the mediation of Moscow and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, who is beginning to occupy the space that the United States has left free in the Middle East.
The four countries reaffirmed their desire to preserve the territorial integrity of Syria and the need to intensify efforts for the rapid return of Syrian refugees to their country.
Russia has pushed for reconciliation with Ankara. But Damascus first demands the total withdrawal of Turkish troops so that relations can be restored. Paradoxically, Erdogan is the one in a hurry to use the restart as an electoral trump card in the May 14 elections. But in the medium term, beginning to heal the wound of the war is above all important for Damascus. Normalization with Turkey will lead to the final restoration of Syria within the framework of international relations and, above all, will legalize to a great extent the Syrian regime, about which governments around the world -and especially some like the Turkish one- have said everything. The Syrian regime will be greatly helped by Ankara's influence on the Syrian opposition. An agreement also has an economic plus. Sealing the wide border with Turkey opens up a variety of opportunities for trade, as Kirill Semenov, a member of the Russian Council for International Affairs, pointed out a few days ago to the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
At the talks in Moscow, defense ministers and intelligence chiefs discussed strengthening security in Syria and normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus.
Ankara insists on three issues: coordination in the fight against terrorism (which includes Kurdish militants), the return of Syrian refugees to their homes and, of course, the search for a political solution in Syria, where it knows there will be to reckon with Iran, more influential than before in Damascus.
Türkiye wants a dialogue between Assad and the opposition. But Damascus demands less interference. First, put an end to the Turkish presence on Syrian territory, respect the request for non-interference in the internal affairs of Syria and - in a different line from Ankara's - the fight against terrorism in all its forms.
The Russian Defense Ministers, Sergei Shoigu; from Türkiye, Hulusi Akar; from Syria, Ali Mahmoud Abbas; and from Iran, Mohammed Reza. The Russian Defense Ministry reported that the parties consider it necessary to continue negotiations in this format. Already in December 2022, talks were held in Moscow between the defense ministers of Turkey, Syria and Russia. It was the first official contact between representatives of Syria and Turkey in more than ten years, somewhat in favor of Moscow facing a future with more regional powers and less US globalism.
Indeed, Moscow expected Presidents Assad and Erdogan to meet at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand last September, but the Syrian leader was not invited there. It's also not clear that the stage is set for that handshake. Arab media have speculated that the Syrian president could wait for the electoral defeat of his Turkish counterpart and the victory of opposition leader Kemal Kiliçdaroglu - nicknamed the Turkish Gandhi - with whom he at least has no personal enmity.
Turkey's extensive military presence has prevented previous Russian-led military campaigns from retaking the last major rebel enclave in Syria under state control. The withdrawal of the Turkish forces will be a move with no turning back. Asad, to whom the Turkish leader predicted an eternity in hell in the past, awaits that moment.
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