At landmark talks between the overseas ministers of Türkiye, Syria’s Bashar Assad regime, Russia and Iran in Moscow, the edges have agreed to proceed normalization talks between Ankara and Damascus and made headway in discussions for the secure return of Syrian refugees, based on International Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu.
“The spotlight of the Moscow assembly was the territorial integrity of Syria the place everybody expressed their opinions blatantly,” Çavuşoğlu mentioned Thursday in an unique interview with Turkish tv community A Haber.
The Turkish-Syrian normalization course of will go ahead inside the framework of a street map and a working group compromising of the deputy overseas ministers of the 4 international locations can be set as much as talk about the following part of talks, the Turkish diplomat knowledgeable.
This implies a gathering between the leaders, specifically President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Syrian regime chief Bashar Assad, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, is feasible as soon as a street map is set, Çavuşoğlu mentioned.
Wednesday’s quadrilateral assembly in Moscow was the most recent initiative by Russia and Iran to steer Ankara and the Assad regime to revive ties by talks after the neighbors’ relations soured within the wake of the 2011 unrest that escalated right into a civil warfare in Syria.
Russia has spent years making an attempt to assist Assad by repairing ties with Türkiye and different international locations amid a civil warfare that has killed practically 500,000 individuals and displaced half of Syria’s prewar inhabitants of 23 million.
Moscow intervened militarily in Syria beginning in September 2015, teaming up with Iran to assist Assad’s authorities reclaim many of the nation. It has maintained a navy presence within the Mideast nation whilst most of its forces are preventing in Ukraine.
All through the 12-year battle, Türkiye has backed the opposition because the Assad regime often denounced Ankara’s help that paved the best way for liberating Syria’s north from terrorist teams just like the PKK, its Syrian affiliate, the YPG, and Daesh.
Negotiations between Türkiye and Syria accelerated after the Feb. 6 earthquakes that killed greater than 56,000 individuals mixed in each international locations.
Çavuşoğlu on Thursday additional emphasised that Türkiye didn’t covet Syrian land and careworn that Turkish navy operations in northern Syria solely goal terrorist teams, particularly the PKK/YPG, which managed a lot of the area after Assad’s troops withdrew in 2012.
“We now have rid the area of Daesh and the PKK,” Çavuşoğlu mentioned, including that the Turkish navy was aiming to stop the formation of a terror hall throughout the border.
Since 2016, Ankara has been hanging terrorist targets with cross-border operations and dealing to allow the peaceable settlements of residents. Turkish officers have lately been floating the concept of cooperating with Damascus within the upcoming interval on counterterrorism efforts because the PKK/YPG nonetheless controls a lot of the war-torn nation’s east, making it unimaginable for Assad to ascertain territorial integrity.
“The PKK’s plans to divide Syria are plain and apparent and a few international locations help that,” Çavuşoğlu remarked in a thinly veiled reference to constant U.S. help for the PKK/YPG.
Washington has been a major ally for the PKK/YPG terrorists underneath the pretext of preventing Daesh and its refusal to chop off arms and ammunition provide to the group stays a supply of great pressure with NATO ally Türkiye.
“Preserving Syria’s territorial integrity was the highest problem at our assembly in Moscow. We now have additionally underscored the necessity to revive the political course of in Syria, the steps to facilitating everlasting stability by activating that course of,” Çavuşoğlu famous.
Syrian media on Wednesday quoted International Minister Faisal Mekdad as saying in Moscow that Damascus seemed “positively” at ongoing efforts but reiterated Assad’s major situation that each one “unlawful” navy presences within the nation, together with that of Turkish forces, “should finish” earlier than any normalization may be achieved.
“We now have mentioned the secure and honorable return of Syrian refugees as properly,” Çavuşoğlu informed A Haber and careworn the necessity for pressing humanitarian assist within the nation, which was solely exacerbated after the earthquakes.
“The elemental circumstances and mandatory infrastructure should be established to make sure this, and the worldwide group should cooperate about all of it,” the Turkish diplomat mentioned.
Opposition guarantees
Çavuşoğlu additionally addressed the Turkish opposition’s latest “inhumane” remarks about “stacking and sending Syrians packing.”
“This isn’t a method to ship again some 550,000 Syrians to secure zones. Life safety and honorable circumstances that put together the required floor should first be assured,” he famous.
As he campaigns for this Sunday’s vital elections, opposition chief and presidential candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu has claimed he would “mend ties with Syria” to ship again Syrian refugees and “restore belief with the U.S. and Europe” towards Russia whereas it wages warfare on Ukraine.
He subsequently backpedaled and promised to “get together with Russia” throughout a rally in Antalya, Türkiye’s southern seashore resort that has lengthy been a favourite of Russian vacationers who lately started settling within the metropolis in droves following crippling Western sanctions on Russia.
Moreover, Ankara conducts complete commerce with Russia, together with important pure fuel agreements that comprise 40% of Türkiye’s power provide.
Çavuşoğlu opined that Kılıçdaroğlu’s claims had “no use to both Turkish tourism or financial system.”
“There isn’t any different to our dealings with Russia. The West might by no means compensate for our losses throughout this era,” he argued. “Making such statements to look cute to sure individuals is the other of appearing in Türkiye’s pursuits and welfare.”
Highlighting Ankara’s constant coverage of stability and mediation efforts within the ongoing Russia-Ukraine warfare, Çavuşoğlu mused: “Why ought to Türkiye lose its worldwide respectability over this? Simply to ingratiate ourselves to the West?”