Explanations by the president Erdogan were interesting as we are in a period in which the agenda is Turkiye-Syria relations and foreign affairs. Erdogan spoke at Graduation Ceremony of Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers: “ We have no problem with any country. We want the best of best relations with all. Our goal is to provide a peaceful environment via cooperation, we started with our nearest neighbor.”

 Çavuşoğlu: We need to start the work for a permanent peace

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs was formerly on the agenda for stating that the discussion with Syrian government should be settled, mentioned that intelligence services of Damascus and Ankara are communicating in his speech and said: “We should not condition communication, we need to have permanent peace.”  

“No triple meeting will take place.”

On the other hand, it has been discussed for some time in the media that President Erdogan, Russia President Putin and Syria President Assad will meet all together at the Shanghai Cooperation Foundation Presidents Summit.

Çavuşoğlu made statements for this trio meeting, and rejected the validity of the news by saying: “Assad is not invited to the Summit.”

Kremlin also did not give specific information about the parties joining the summit in their explanations till today.

Syrian and Russian Foreign Affairs Ministers met

The issue of another level of dialogue and ‘normalization’ of relations with Syria, which has been frequently spoken by Turkish officials recently, remained on the agenda in both countries, it is also closely followed by the rest of the world.

Syrian Foreign Affairs Minister Faisal Mikdad met with his Russian counterpart, Lavrov, in Moscow today. One of the most important agendas of the meeting was the dialogue process with Turkey.

Having been asked about the mediating role Moscow plays in the relations between Damascus and Ankara, Lavrov stated that Russia has been working for years, since the establishment of the Astana format, for the normalization of Turkey-Syria relations.

Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mikdad also stressed that Damascus appreciates Russia and Iran’s efforts to reform relations between Syria and Turkey, but stressed that Ankara still has issues to address.

Mikdad said that Turkey should “abandon the role it played in previous years” and called for “Turkey to withdraw from Syria”.

After the Tehran summit, Turkey’s dialogue with Syria increased. After Erdogan and Putin’s Sochi summit, which took place three weeks after the Tehran summit, it was announced that Putin offered Erdogan to meet with Assad, but Erdogan preferred this to be done through intelligence circles.

It is stated that Russia is carrying out active diplomacy to re-establish relations between Syria and Turkey.

Syrian expert: The safety of the two countries depends on each other

Although there is no official statement from Damascus on the statements from Ankara, the Syrian public is following the developments closely.

Syrian political analyst Talib Ibrahim, who is known for his closeness to Assad, stated that Damascus welcomed the positive statements from Ankara with cautious optimism in the program he participated in Sky News Arabia. Saying that there are dozens of reasons for the Ankara-Damascus reconnection that unites the two countries, Talib Ibrahim listed the most urgent reasons as follows: “The possibility of a Kurdish presence in northeast Syria near the Turkish border, terrorism, food, security and migration problems. The safety of the two countries depends on each other.”

Member of the Syrian Parliament, Halit Abbut, made evaluations on the subject on his Facebook account and said, “Erdogan understands that there is no other way out than to go to the normalization process in relations with Syria.”

Guardian: Terrorist organizations are triggered

A British newspaper, The Guardian, took the issue on its agenda and wrote that Erdogan no longer wants to overthrow Assad, and that this situation alarmed the Syrian opposition and the YPG members in the north of the country.

Emphasizing that President Erdogan has markedly changed his rhetoric towards Assad and that the ‘chorus’ defending diplomacy in the country is gradually expanding, The Guardian article states that, after being one of the main regional advocates of Assad’s overthrow for more than a decade, Erdogan now supports Assad embarking on a new policy aimed at stabilizing.

The article also includes the statements of a senior Lebanese official who spoke anonymously about the dialogue process of the two countries: “The dialogue process will be gradual. The Turkish message is very clear. They want to solve the PKK problem and Assad has a trump card for the first time. But since all this happened thanks to Putin, Assad should not push his current position too much.” 

YPG: Damascus-Ankara relations will increase the crisis

The statement confirming the news of The Guardian that terrorist organizations were on the alert came from Ilham Ahmed, Chairman of the Executive Board of the Democratic Syrian Assembly affiliated to the YPG. “The normalization of relations between Damascus and Ankara will increase the current crisis,” Ahmed stated about Turkey’s efforts to get closer with the Syrian government.

Turk normalising with Syr regime will never bring peace, but deepen crisis.
Turk has never supported Syr revolution, but used it to serve its expansionist agendas based on colonialism, demographical changes & using Syr refugees.
Democ-Nat-opposition have to unify & play its role.

— Elham Ahmad (@ElhamAhmadSDC) August 22, 2022