During a meeting in Moscow this Wednesday, May 10, the heads of Turkish and Syrian diplomacy agreed to draw up a roadmap aimed at normalizing relations between Damascus and Ankara.
It had been twelve years since the heads of Turkish and Syrian diplomacy had met. This Wednesday in Moscow, the Syrian ministers Faisal Mekdad, Turkish Mevlüt Cavusoglu, as well as their Russian counterparts Sergei Lavrov and Iranian Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, instructed their deputies to ” develop a roadmap to advance Turkey-Syria relations “.
Ankara presents this meeting as a prerequisite for a summit between the Turkish and Syrian leaders. Turkey had arisen from the start of the conflict in support of the opposition and the rebels wishing to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. But Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now trying to rebuild ties with Damascus, with the stated aim of sending some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees back to Turkish soil, a central issue in the presidential and legislative elections which are taking place. will be held in Turkey on Sunday.
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the document signed on Wednesday should allow Damascus and Ankara to ” clearly set out their positions on priority topics for them ” to can ” restore control of the Syrian government over the entire territory of the country and firmly ensure the security of the 900 km long border with Turkey “. ” It is also important to mention the restoration of the logistical links that have been severed between the two neighboring countries and the resumption of economic cooperation without obstacles. “said the head of Russian diplomacy at the start of this meeting. ” We all have an interest in seeing relations between Syria and Turkey resume on the basis of equality and respect. ” mutual, he underlined.
After the meeting of Turkish and Syrian Defense Ministers in December, and the success of this meeting on Wednesday, Moscow can very seriously consider the third stage of this process of reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus, namely the summit meeting between the two leaders of the two countries. For Russia, the interest is threefold, analysis Daniel Vallot, from the RFI international service. This would first allow him to garner major diplomatic success as an intermediary. But also to bring together two allied countries – which is always beneficial when one is isolated on the international scene. And finally to be able to emerge from the top of the Syrian conflict, Moscow now needing all its resources, financial and military, for the Ukrainian conflict.
But two obstacles stand in the way of Sergei Lavrov. First there are the elections in Turkey, which promise to be difficult for Reccep Tayyip Erdogan. There is also the double prerequisite posed by Bashar al-Assad for any official reconciliation with Turkey, namely the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Syria, and the cessation of all support for the Syrian opposition. Two difficult conditions, even impossible to accept for the Turkish authorities.
(And with AFP)