With the agreement to continue contacts and discuss ways to prepare for the meeting of foreign ministers, the quartet meeting of the deputy foreign ministers of Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey concluded its work yesterday, which constituted the first political breach between Damascus and Ankara since the beginning of the war on Syria.
The meeting, which opened yesterday morning in the Russian Foreign Ministry building and was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which Damascus, through the words of the head of the Syrian delegation, Associate Deputy Foreign Minister Ayman Soussan, renewed its adherence to its basic principles regarding the need for it to obtain guarantees of a Turkish withdrawal from its lands and the cessation of support for terrorism, given that These guarantees are the “entrance to re-establish communication between the two countries.”
Al-Watan learned from follow-up sources that the meeting witnessed a frank discussion of all files, as Moscow sought to bridge the points of view between the Syrian and Turkish delegations, given that the normalization of relations, if it happened, would have strategic repercussions that would be reflected positively, putting an end to the war on Syria.
The sources indicated that Moscow called for raising the dialogue between the parties to the level of foreign ministers of the four countries, and proposed a date for this meeting on Monday and Tuesday, considering that the principle of dialogue is sufficient to remove obstacles to the return of Syrian-Turkish relations.
On the other hand, Sousan, who thanked the Russians and the Iranians for their assistance to the Syrians, explained that Syria was subjected to an unprecedented terrorist war with full planning and support from Western, regional and Arab countries, as foreign terrorists came to it from more than 100 countries, according to United Nations reports, and unfortunately this was through neighboring countries. Pointing out that we cannot overlook that other countries took advantage of the situation created by this war to illegally send their forces to Syria and be present on its lands without any invitation or coordination with the legitimate government, in addition to providing support to terrorists.
He stressed that the legal description of the illegal military presence on Syrian territory, whether in northeastern or northwestern Syria and by whoever, is very clear, as this presence violates the provisions of international law and the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, as well as conflicts with good neighborly relations and governing principles. For peaceful relations between countries and with all Security Council resolutions related to Syria.
He said, “We have not yet seen any positive indications regarding the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria, or regarding the fight once morest and elimination of terrorism in northwestern Syria, especially in the Idlib region, and the re-establishment of state authority over this region.”
He added: If the Turkish side is really serious regarding correcting the relationship with Syria and respecting its sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity and not interfering in its internal affairs, then I do not think that there will be difficulty in responding to what we are proposing, which will open the door to various areas of coordination and cooperation that respond to the concerns of the two countries and achieve their mutual interests.
The Russian “Tass” agency quoted Lavrov as saying at the beginning of the meeting that Russia had proposed, in consultation with Syria, Turkey and Iran, dates for the meeting of the foreign ministers of the four countries.
He added, “I look forward to your agreement on the date of the meeting in Moscow at the level of foreign ministers with my friends and colleagues, Hussein Amir Abdullahian, Mevlut Cavusoglu, and Faisal Al-Miqdad. We have proposed some dates that can become generally acceptable following the results of your round of talks.”
Despite the absence of any statement or statements revealing the truth of the Turkish position towards all these data, the files presented and the guarantees that Damascus requires, especially with regard to its occupation of the Syrian lands, the Russian Foreign Ministry revealed in a statement that the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey agreed, during the meeting, to continue contacts, She said, “The participants in the meeting defined their approach in a direct and frank manner, and agreed to continue contacts.”
The ministry pointed out that “the meeting parties discussed ways to prepare for the next meeting of the foreign ministers of these countries.”
