ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Increased dialogue is needed between Ankara and Damascus in order to restore ties between the neighboring countries, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said on Saturday, after Syria’s foreign minister said Damascus would not engage with Turkey until Ankara withdrew its troops from Syria and Iraq.
“We are committed to finding balanced solutions to all the problems that countries in the region face today. The relationship between Ankara and Damascus is one of the key aspects of the overall situation,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told Rudaw’s Kamiz Shadadi.
“I understand that each party holds onto its fundamental stance and cannot easily step back. However, the more dialogue and attempts to find solutions there are, without setting harsh conditions or prerequisites, the greater the chance we have to bring more stability to the region,” he added.
During a trip to Egypt last week, Syria’s Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad stated that Damascus will only deal with Turkey after it withdraws from Syria and Iraq.
Through the Syrian conflict, Ankara has supported rebel forces opposed to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, including some with links to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. Turkey has also launched repeated incursions into Syrian territory, most notably against Kurds in Afrin in 2018, and continues to occupy large swathes of the country’s north.
Russia, the main backer of the Syrian regime, is foremost among the countries seeking a normalization of ties between Syria and Turkey.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Rudaw that normalization between Ankara and Damascus was “extremely important for advancing a comprehensive Syrian settlement and strengthening regional security.”
The two sides have recently indicated that they would be open to mending ties.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in July that he might invite his long-time foe Assad to Turkey, a month after Assad said he was open “to all initiatives related to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, which are based on the sovereignty of the Syrian state over its entire territory.”
Assad, who is also heavily backed by Iran and its proxies, has repeatedly preconditioned any potential rapprochement on the full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria.
Syrians rose up against the Assad regime in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, left millions more in dire need of humanitarian assistance and much of the country’s infrastructure in ruins.
More than 13 million Syrians, half the country’s pre-war population, have been displaced since the start of the civil war, and more than six million are refugees who have fled the war-torn country, according to United Nations figures. Millions of Syrians are living in Turkey.
