-Turkiye-Syria eager for ties after 15 years distance
-Damascus demands thousands Türkiye troops pulling out
Türkiye has expressed interest in building good relations with Syria. Through this, Türkiye gave the impression of changing its policy towards the war-torn neighboring country Syria. The country has been saying for a long time that the departure of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is the only solution to regional peace.
However, the Turkish president emphasized the need for good relations with Syria for the fight against terrorism and regional stability. Since the start of the conflict in Syria in 2011, Turkey has severed diplomatic relations with the country. Since then, the country has argued that the departure of President Addas is necessary for regional stability.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on last Friday that he is not opposed to meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al-Assad to restore bilateral relations between the two countries.
Turkiye severed its relations with Syria after the Syrian Civil War in 2011 and supported opponents who wanted to overthrow Al-Assad.
Ankara has carried out several cross-border military operations against militants that it says threaten its national security and has established a “safe zone” in northern Syria where Turkish forces are currently stationed.
However, amid a regional campaign with the primary goal of normalizing relations with the Gulf states, Türkiye has also said that it may restore ties with Damascus if progress is made in the fight against terrorism, the safe and voluntary return of millions of refugees hosted by Türkiye and the political process.
When journalists asked him about reports that Al-Assad said that his government is open to normalization initiatives as long as it respects Syria’s sovereignty and contributes to the fight against terrorism, Erdogan confirmed that Ankara and Damascus may move to restore relations.
Syrian officials have repeatedly said that any moves towards normalizing ties between Damascus and Ankara can only come after Turkey agrees to pull out thousands of troops it has stationed in the rebel-held northwest.
“There is no reason why this should not happen,” Erdogan added, noting that Türkiye has no intention of interfering in Syrian internal affairs. “Just as we kept our ties very lively in the past – we even held talks between our families with Bashar Al-Assad – it is certainly not possible (to say) this will not happen again in the future. It can happen.”
In April 2023, the intelligence directors of Iran, Russia, Syria and Türkiye held talks as part of efforts to rebuild Turkish-Syrian relations after years of hostility.
In recent years, Tukey has been seen eager to restore relations with some hostile countries such as Greece, Egypt and Armenia.
On February of this year, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met at the Al-Ittihadiya Palace in Cairo. This marked Erdogan’s first visit to Egypt since 2012.
The visit was an important watershed in Ankara and Cairo’s rapprochement that gained momentum after the two leaders met in Qatar at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the Egyptian capital, Erdogan and Sisi addressed a host of issues, including bilateral trade, energy, and the Libyan file. The two leaders called for “a new stage in relations” and for bilateral trade to increase to $15 billion per year “within a few years”.
But the Israeli war on Gaza and the worsening humanitarian crises in the besieged enclave topped the agenda. “We will continue to cooperate and stand in solidarity with our Egyptian brothers to put an end to the bloodshed in Gaza,” said Erdogan at a joint press conference with Egypt’s head of state.
ZH
