Roundup: Syria witnesses shuttle diplomacy to restore relations with Türkiye
Officials from several countries have visited Damascus since the end of 2022 to help break the ice between Syria and Türkiye. Experts said that the normalization of bilateral ties will benefit both countries.
On Dec. 28, 2022, the defense ministers of Türkiye and Syria met in the Russian capital Moscow and talked for the first time as part of the efforts exerted by Russia and Iran to ease the tension and restore their relations.
Syrian Defense Minister Ali Mahmoud Abbas said in a statement following the meeting that the talks were positive, urging Türkiye to remove its military presence on Syrian soil and end its support for rebels in Syria so that constructive talks between the two countries could move forward.
After the meeting, officials from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Russia and Iran visited Damascus.
On Jan. 4, UAE’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, voicing his country’s support for a political solution to Syria’s crisis.
On Jan. 12, Russian President’s Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev met with Assad, stressing the need to continue such meetings between Syrian-Turkish defense ministers and develop them into ones attended by foreign ministers.
On the same day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he could meet Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad early in February, which would mark the highest-level talks between the two countries since 2011 and signal a further thaw in ties.
On Jan. 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held meetings with Assad and his Syrian counterpart, and stressed Iran’s full support of Syria’s stances and decisions, deeming any dialogue between Syria and Türkiye as a positive step for both countries and the entire region.
Political analysts see the restoration of the relations between Syria and Türkiye benefit both sides.
Osama Danura, a Syrian political expert, told Xinhua that normalizing relations will benefit both countries.
The Turks can use transportation through the Syrian territories to the gulf states, which plays as an important export line of Turkish goods to the Gulf region. He added that it will also benefit Türkiye in terms of resolving the issue of Syrian refugees on its territories.
For Syria, if Türkiye stops its support of the Syrian rebel groups and made a policy shift, it would remove around 80 percent of the political instability factors in Syria, he said.
In addition, restoring relations would be important to break Syria’s regional and international isolation and serve as a domino effect, attracting more countries to rebuild their ties with Syria, according to Danura.
Source: Xinhua
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of the Observatory.