The repeatedly announced Turkish ground offensive in Syria could fail. Instead, President Erdogan is striking new conciliatory tones and even showing willingness to meet his counterpart Assad. Moscow should also be included in the "peace process".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is ready for a U-turn in his Syria policy and is no longer ruling out a meeting with his counterpart Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan spoke of a new peace process in which Russia was also involved alongside Turkey and Syria. "We will bring our foreign ministers together and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders," the head of state said.
After the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Erdogan insisted for a long time on a future for the neighboring country without Assad as president and ruled out any contact with him. Turkey has been the main supporter of the Syrian opposition for more than a decade. According to Turkish data, the defense ministers of Turkey and Syria met in Moscow on December 28. The topics of migration and Kurds were discussed.
Weeks ago, the government in Ankara announced a ground offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Syria. Meanwhile, Russia has publicly asked Turkey to refrain from a comprehensive ground offensive. Turkey has repeatedly taken military action against the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, which it sees as a wing of the banned Kurdish Workers' Party PKK.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the Syrian civil war. Millions of people have been displaced. A large number fled to Turkey, where, however, the rejection of migrants from the neighboring country is growing. With the support of Russia and Iran, the Assad government has retaken most of Syrian territory. Turkey-backed opposition fighters still control an area in the northwest, and US-backed Kurdish fighters also control an area near the Turkish border.
