File image.
On December 15, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara wants to normalize ties with the Syrian government through a plan that would include Russia.
“As of now, we want to take a trilateral step as Syria, Turkey and Russia. For this, our intelligence organizations should first meet, then our defense and foreign ministers. After their meetings, we can come together as leaders. I offered this option to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin. He also viewed it positively,” Erdogan told journalists returning from Turkmenistan.
Ankara broke ties with Damascus in the very first year of the Syrian war. Today, it is the main backer of Syrian rebels and its military occupies vast parts of the country’s northern region.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey would not seek permission from the United States or any other country to hold talks with the Syrian government of Bashar al-Assad.
“The decisive factor in steps to be taken regarding Syria will be our national interests,” the Turkish president said.
The president went on to warn that Turkey won’t tolerate the presence of Kurdish forces in northern Syria along the Turkish border.
Erdogan said that the Turkish military will continue to target the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), the core faction of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the alleged Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), within the 30 kilometers zone south of its border that was declared a buffer area in two separate deals with Russia.
“We have decisions from the Sochi deal and Astana,” Erdogan said.
Turkey launched an air operation against Kurdish forces in Syria and Iraq, codenamed Operation Claw-Sword, on November 20 in response to the November 13 Istanbul bombing. Ankara blamed the terrorist attack, which killed six and wounded more than 80 others, on the PKK and the YPG.
So far, most of the Turkish strikes have targeted positions and personnel of the SDF in northern Syria. Erdogan has already warned of a near ground offensive.
“Our coordination with Russia in Syria is not new,” Erdogan said, adding that a potential ground operation into northern Syria was discussed between the two countries.
In a recent televised discussion, Erdogan expressed his willingness to meet with Assad and noted that “there can be no resentment in politics.” Nevertheless, it was reported later that Damascus had rejected a proposal by Ankara to hold such a meeting.
Damascus believes that a meeting with Assad could boost Erdogan’s chances in the 2023 Turkish general elections, especially if its addresses the issue of returning some of the 3,6 million Syrian refugees in Turkey.
Despite Erdogan’s enthusiasm for a Turkish-Syrian rapprochement, Damascus will not likely make any serious move in this direction before the upcoming Turkish elections. Only after the elections, the plan layout by Erdogan may move forward.
Time is on Turkey’s side. If Assad continues to insist on not negotiating with the Syrian opposition, there won’t be any progress in normalizing ties with Assad.
BTW, those who wish that the opposition wins in Turkey should know that Istanbul’s mayor has been banned from politics for more than 2 years.
If Assad continues to drag his feet on resolution 2254, Turkey should simply wait for the Ukraine war to take a real toll on Russia. The Syrian war theater is heating up again, and escalation might happen any moment.
Great comment
I am Greek and I don’t want the so called Turkish opposition to win. However, Erdogan should condemn HTS and Taliban.
HTS are the strongest suburban ground force in the World, Taliban are the strongest rural ground force in the World, and Al-Qaeda is the strongest urban ground force in the World.
They are so strong, they can fight against the strongest air forces in the World (yajuj majuj).
Their resilience is unmatched and they can fight with one arm behind their back like Neo in Matrix.
Look at this racist Zionist shill and biased Wahhabi/Salafist terrorist supporter spewing lies and bullshit propaganda in support of Takfiri death squad mercenaries, baby killers, rapists, war criminals and mass murderers! Hezbollah, SAA, IRGC and Russians are the strongest fighting forces in the world, not CIA, MI5 and Mossad terrorists!!
https://www.haaretz.com/2014-12-07/ty-article/.premium/un-reveals-israeli-links-with-syrian-rebels/0000017f-dc06-db22-a17f-fcb7acfc0000
Maybe they cooperated with CIA in the past, but HTS is now a force backed by and protected by the Islamists. They should be armed with Turkey’s superior stingers.
LOL HTS are like Al Shabaab
Fuck off, Israeli Zionist war criminal and terrorist cocksucker! God curse you crazy, racist, hate filled Satanist genocidal psychopaths who kill with impunity inside Arab majority and Islamic majority nations, every single day!
https://www.businessinsider.com/us-syria-heavy-weapons-jihadists-2012-10?op=1
It seems that someone takes too many drugs at once
How many shit kebabs did you eat?! You speak sensless …
I ate my shit once when I was younger just to prove I could do it, so once. But figuratively sf is a shit kebab forum where smiling moaning lisas eat it all up.
#IToldYouMossadSendsHoneyTrapsToFuckOver
^Proof that Jesus Loves Me ❤️.
While I support coordination between Russian and Turkish forces in Syria, this should be conditional on Russia not harming the Syrian population or seeking to impose dictatorship on them when they clearly don’t want it.
Speeding up weapons developments, economic reorientation to Africa & Asia, and enhancing the Pakistani nuclear arsenal while dettering a Russian attack on Idlib is the right step to take. Turkey should try every possible diplomacy to convince Putin to let the Syrians have their right to electing their leaders. But a kinetic option must also be in place to eject Russia from Syria if diplomacy fails. While it’s conventionally possible at the moment, it’s better to have a sufficient number of Pakistani nukes deployed in Turkey before taking such a step to detter any use of nuclear weapons by Russia.
“kinetic option must also be in place to eject Russia from Syria” – pretty strong words from a country who suffered huge loses and couldn’t take the small village of Al Bab from Isis for half a year…
These aren’t strong words. They are fact. Turkey and Russia almost clashed in Feb. 2020. Ukraine is handing Russia its ass (killing and capturing many POWs – evidenced by the mass exchanges). And Ukraine is nowhere near Turkey militarily. You can claim NATO this and that, but we all know that had NATO decided to supply Ukraine with long-range precision firs, most of Russia’s planes would be grounded by now. Despite the odds, Ukraine managed to push Russia out of the only city it captured and sent Russian forces retreating everywhere.
I’m pretty sure such a Turkish plan exists. The nuclear option is what needs to be strengthened to defend Turkey. I never fear a conventional war between Turkey and Russia cos I know will emerge victorious. In Syria, the Russians will most likely be obliterated if such a war occured.
Al Bab from ISIS? That was before the rise of a DRONE SUPER POWER. How about Libya, N-K, and Idlib 2020?
In idlib 2020 you lost one third of it
Go back to zionist an, hasbarah troll
go blow your ring hand off filthy persian, your children were lined up, shot in the head, and dumped in the river.
Soleimani burning in hell now…
You do realize Idlib is not democratic in any sense. That turkey literally supports terrorists, and that a large amount of Syrians would rather side with Assad than with Turkey, and US backed forces, as it was these forces who exposed them to extremist, terrorists, chemical and human shields. Syria voted Assad by the way in the last election. It was monitored also by independent countries. Their choice was one of necessity however. Assad isn’t a good person. But his way promotes Syria for the future. Only after reunification will all their land can then Democratic process take place, without influence from USA, ISRAEL and the Western world.
Regarding Syria and the Syrians, I will say what the Turkish people want. a return of Syrian refugees to Syria, we are tired of them and that our border is secure. personally broken the Russian and American presence would be nice also these countries have absolutely nothing to do in our region.
All Turks want the Syrian refugees to go home. Erdogan too wants that. But Erdogan has a very kind heart towards them. He doesn’t want to push them into Assad’s hands without first securing their rights. But Assad does not want a negotiated settlement. He wants to restore his dictatorial regime. As a result, Erdogan decided to take the Middle Option of returning Syrian refugees but NOT to Assad’s part of Syria.
Refugee housing construction is ongoing. This is annoying Assad because he won’t achieve his main aim of restoring dictatorship or ejecting Turkish forces from Syria. In fact, it might end up with a partitioning of Syria, where some 11 million Syrians may live under Turkish protection (about 50% of Syria’s population) while the rest live in Assad, SDF, U.S., & Iran controlled parts of Syria.
Many Turks are extremely racist. They’ve never had foreigners in numbers in their country. They’re used to occupy and colonise. They don’t like ppl coming to them (well, depends, the Spanish Jews were welcome, which was a good thing, but they were fewer). Time is not on Erdogan’s side. Mayor of Isanbul Imamoglu just rallied huge crowds. Let’s remember that E is also a convicted criminal. It will be difficult for E to stay in power. Already the court decision reg. I’s mayor is a first. While Turks are arabophobic and intolerant (at least if ppl want to work decently, not serve their Turkish masters as slaves), they’re also very nationalistic and – yes, in some strange way democratic. They won’t accept tyranny beyond what E is already doing.
Yes this is correct, however, Anatolian Turks don’t like Syrians because of several clashes in the past, for example, about Hatay’s status.
Turkiye is better in every measure than the cuntry you come from. And Erdogan is just one Man of Many who exist in Turkiye.
11 million are too much for you
This is a non-article, non-news, 0 new information. Erdogan only said what he or his ministers said a dozen times so far, that he “seeks normalization” of their relationship with Syria. Absolutely zero information on how he plans to achieve this.
What kind of “normalization” are we talking about here when Erdoganists continue to occupy Syrian territory and support Hayat Tahrir Al Sham and other terrorist organizations? Does he mean that terrorist occupation should be accepted as “normal”? – Yes, that is probably what he means, this is all just talk before the elections in Turkey.
Im BlueGuard.
You Guard Red, I Guard Blue.
Genau, es geht nur um Ihn. Nicht, um sein Volk. Um Syrien oder Assad geht es sowieso nicht. Der hatte genug Zeit aus Nord-Syrien rauszugehen. Mehr als genug Zeit gehabt. Gerade jetzt kurz vor den Wahlen will er mit Assad die Freundschaft? Was für Freundschaft? Der bombadiert täglich Syrien. Wie soll da eine Annährung entstehen? Erdogan muss endlich abgewählt werden. Der muss weg, ansonsten wird die Türkei noch für sehr lange Zeit leiden. Will es das Türkische Volk? Nein, definitiv nicht. Wenn der jetzt nicht abgewählt wird, dann Gnade uns Gott..
Do you support your gay soccer team phaggot?