BEIRUT (Dispatches) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said rapprochement talks with Turkey should be based on the aims of ending the occupation of Syrian land and halting ‘support for terrorism’, an apparent reference to Ankara’s forces in northern Syria and its support for the militants.
In his first publicly reported remarks on landmark talks overseen by his ally Russia, Assad also said the meetings “should be coordinated between Syria and Russia in advance in order to... produce tangible results sought by Syria”.
Assad made the comments, reported by Syrian state media on Thursday, in a meeting with Russian presidential envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus.
Turkey has been a major backer of the political and armed opposition to Assad during the 12-year-long conflict, and has sent its own troops into swathes of the country’s north.
Moscow is supporting a rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara, hosting talks between their defence ministers last month and aiming for meetings between the foreign ministers and eventually presidents.
Lavrentiev said Moscow viewed the defence ministers’ meeting “positively” and hoped to develop talks “to the level of foreign ministers”, Syrian news agency SANA reported.
Analysts say Moscow is trying to bridge the divide between its two allies, united by a common “enemy” – U.S.-sponsored and Kurdish militants in northern Syria.
Also on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow that a meeting between Russian, Syrian and Turkish foreign ministers, Sergei Lavrov, Faisal Mekdad and Mevlut Cavusoglu, is being hammered out, but the date has not yet been set. “There is no concrete date yet. We have already talked about it, such a meeting is in the works,” she said. “We will let you know the details, including the date, the issues to be discussed, the participants and formats as soon as it will be coordinated with the parties.”
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously talked about the possibility of a face-to-face meeting with Assad. That meeting, he said, should be preceded by talks among the heads of the intelligence services, defense and foreign ministers.
Turkish-language daily newspaper Aydinlik, citing sources, reported on January 10 that Erdogan may meet with Assad before the June presidential election in Turkey. The report said the meeting between the two leaders is expected as part of the third stage of normalization of Turkey-Syria relations.