ANKARA – Turkey has greatly softened its hardline stance from a possible reconciliation with the Syrian regime, and has shown great flexibility in terms of entering into a dialogue that ends more than a decade of hostility and estrangement, after Ankara supported hard and moderate Syrian factions about 10 years ago to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad and intervened militarily in the north of the country and took control of the country. large parts of its north.
In a remarkable development in Turkey’s position, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu announced today, Tuesday, that his country does not present any preconditions for conducting a dialogue with the Syrian government, in a statement that reinforces the information reported recently about Turkish efforts to open a new page with Damascus.
Cavusoglu’s statements also reinforce the indications made by Ankara by senior Turkish officials, led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, about the need for a settlement of the Syrian crisis and for reconciliation between the regime and the opposition, with an emphasis on the unity and stability of the Syrian territories, a position considered by the Syrian opposition factions as a coup in the Turkish position, while Some of its officials went on to consider that Erdogan had turned his back on the opposition.
Turkey backed rebels seeking to overthrow the Syrian president and cut diplomatic ties with Damascus at the start of the 11-year conflict.
But the intelligence leaders of the two countries have maintained contacts, while recent comments from Erdogan’s government indicate a move towards political contacts, which raises the concern of Assad’s opponents in the remaining pocket of Syria controlled by the armed opposition, including extremist factions such as Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, which is a subsidiary Al-Qaeda in Syria.
Turkey’s foreign minister said two weeks ago that the Syrian opposition and the government should be brought together to reconcile, while Erdogan said diplomatic ties could not be completely cut off.
After visiting Russia, which is a staunch supporter of Assad, Erdogan said President Vladimir Putin had suggested that Turkey cooperate with the Syrian government along their common border, where Erdogan is planning a further military incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters he says pose a security threat.
Turkey, which has carried out four military operations in northern Syria since 2016, says it is creating a safe zone to which some 3.6 million Syrian refugees it currently hosts can return to.
Turkey is likely planning, with a Russian and Iranian push, to get rid of the burdens of its military intervention in northern Syria, which is a costly intervention in financial and human terms, with the agreement with the Syrian regime to curb the Kurdish organizations backed by the United States.
In response to a question about the possibility of holding talks, Cavusoglu said that the talks must have specific goals, declaring to Khabar Global channel, “There can be no condition for dialogue, but what is the purpose of these contacts? The country needs to be cleansed of terrorists… People It needs to go back,” adding, “There are no conditions for dialogue, but what is its goal? It is necessary that it have goals.”
Cavusoglu revealed earlier this month that he spoke briefly with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad last year on the sidelines of an international meeting, though he played down the importance of their meeting.
In response to a question last week about the possibility of talks with Damascus, Turkish media quoted Erdogan as saying that diplomacy between countries cannot be completely cut off, and that there was “a need to take more steps with Syria.”
In his latest statement in this regard, the Turkish president stressed that reconciliation with Damascus would undermine terrorist plans, indicating that the normalization of relations would help confront Kurdish organizations.
About 3,000 people demonstrated on August 12 in the town of Azaz, which is controlled by Turkey-backed opposition forces, pledging to continue their opposition to Assad.
Yesterday, Monday, the semi-official Iranian Tasnim news agency reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin invited his Turkish and Syrian counterparts to participate in the Samarkand Summit in Uzbekistan next September. The agency close to the Iranian government did not rule out Erdogan and Assad holding a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit.
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