The restoration of ties between Damascus and Ankara is contingent upon the latter ending its military presence in northern Syria, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad says.
Since 2016, Turkey has staged three ground offensives into northern Syria, where it still maintains thousands of troops.
On Jan. 14, Mekdad called for an end to the Turkish military presence, which he described as an “occupation.”
His remarks come in the run-up to a highly anticipated meeting between himself and his Turkish and Russian counterparts.
The meeting is expected to be held next month in Moscow, although a date has yet to be set.
Mekdad’s comments, however, appear to cast doubt on whether the meeting will materialize as planned.
According to him, a “suitable environment” that reflects the “sovereignty and independence of Syria” should first be created.
“This will determine whether or not such meetings can be held,” Mekdad said, according to Syria’s Al-Watan News.
Oytun Orhan, a Turkish expert on the Middle East, believes Damascus is simply playing hardball.
“The Turkish and Syrian defense ministers have already met in Moscow,” he told The Epoch Times.
According to Orhan, Mekdad hopes to “strengthen his bargaining position” in advance of the planned foreign ministers’ meeting.
Defense Chiefs Meet in Moscow
In late December 2022, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar met with his Syrian counterpart Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas in the Russian capital.Also attended by Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, it was the highest-level contact between Turkey and Syria in more than a decade.
The defense chiefs reportedly discussed means of resolving Syria’s political crisis, the repatriation of Syrian refugees living in Turkey, and joint efforts to combat Syria-based militant groups.
The Turkey–Syria reconciliation process follows months of prompting by Moscow.
A staunch supporter of Damascus, Russia has kept troops in Syria since 2015 to support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his government. Al-Assad leads the Syrian branch of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party.
In recent months, Moscow has urged the two countries to reconcile with a view to resolving Syria’s longstanding political crisis.
After 12 years of conflict, Syria remains plagued by rival armed factions, while U.S., Turkish, Russian, and Iranian forces are active in different parts of the country.
After the recent defense ministers’ meeting in Moscow, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that continued contact between Turkish and Syrian officials was vital to achieving a “political solution and lasting peace” in Syria.
Plans are now underway for a tripartite foreign ministers’ meeting, which would pave the way for an eventual summit between al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Ankara, for its part, appears keen to mend fences.
Last month, Erdogan voiced his country’s readiness to work with Syria and Russia—“as a trio”—against Syria-based Kurdish militant groups.
Mekdad’s recent comments, however, appear to suggest that Damascus wants a full Turkish withdrawal in return for normalized ties.
But according to Orhan, a Levant expert at Ankara’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Moscow has “considerable influence” with al-Assad and can “persuade him to pursue contacts with Turkey.”
He said that Turkey “has its own preconditions for leaving Syria,” including neutralization of the YPG—the Syrian offshoot of the left-wing nationalistic Kurdistan Workers’ Party—and implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2254.
Adopted in 2015, Resolution 2254 calls for a cessation of hostilities in Syria to be followed by a political settlement of the decade-long crisis.
“These are complicated issues that will take a long time to solve,” Orhan said. “So Turkey isn’t likely to leave Syria in the short term.”
Foreign Minister Meeting ‘In the Works’
Cavusoglu recently stated that he hopes to meet Mekdad, his Syrian counterpart, “as soon as possible.”“We’re working on a date,” he said on Jan. 12, noting that the meeting would likely be held within the first two weeks of February.
Officials in Moscow have also confirmed that the meeting, which would also include Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is “in the works.”
According to a ministry spokesperson, all the details—including the date—will be announced “as soon as they are coordinated with the parties.”
Tehran, an ally of both Moscow and Damascus, has also welcomed the prospect of a Turkey–Syria détente.
“We believe it will have a positive effect on both countries,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said on Jan. 13.
Al-Assad, however, recently linked any normalization of ties to a full Turkish withdrawal from Syrian territory.
During talks with Alexander Lavrentiev, Moscow’s special envoy for Syria, al-Assad said that the foreign ministers’ meeting should yield “tangible results,” Syria’s state-owned news agency SANA reported on Jan. 12.
Those results, he said, should be based “on the principle of ending the [Turkish] occupation and ending support for terrorism.”
Damascus views armed opposition groups, some of which enjoy Turkish support, as “terrorists” and demands that Ankara stop backing them.
Turkey, for its part, sees the YPG as a terrorist group and wants Russian and Syrian help to uproot it.
Making matters more complex, Washington supports the YPG and takes a dim view of Turkey–Syria rapprochement.
“We do not support countries upgrading relations with ... the brutal dictator Bashar Assad,” a U.S. State Department spokesman said earlier this month.
Cavusoglu will visit Washington on Jan. 18, where he’s slated to hold talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
According to Orhan, there’s little doubt that the Turkey–Syria issue will come up in discussions.
“Washington will certainly try to pressure Turkey not to recognize, or give legitimacy to, the Assad regime,” he said.
Ankara, for its part, wants to see Washington end its longstanding support for the YPG, according to Orhan.
“Turkey would like to cooperate with the United States in Syria,” he said. “But this would require a major shift in Washington’s Syria policy.”
