Hurriyet: Syria, Turkey may hold intelligence talks

This came according to what was published by the newspaper under the title “Green light from Bashar al-Assad for the meeting: Turkish military withdrawal is not a prerequisite.” The newspaper continued that a positive response from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was received regarding the possibility of launching high-level normalization negotiations between Ankara and Damascus, in light of what al-Assad said that “Turkey’s withdrawal of its military forces from Syria is not a prerequisite for starting the talks.”

This comes at a time when there are increasing signs of normalization between the two countries, which have recently gained momentum thanks to Russian mediation efforts, as well as in light of the positive statements made by senior Turkish officials, including those of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which led to a moderate response from the Syrian front.

But Assad, at the same time, included in his speech to the Syrian parliament a few days ago that the recent mediation efforts by Russia, Iran and Iraq did not result in “any tangible progress in the initiatives.” The Syrian president continued that there is a need to “retreat from the policies that led to the current situation, and these are not conditions, but rather requirements for the success of the process.”

During his speech, Assad stressed that “the current global crisis and its repercussions” push for “working with faster dynamism in order to fix what can be fixed, away from feelings of grief and the pain of wounds from a brother’s stab or a friend’s betrayal. With this spirit, we dealt with the initiatives that were put forward regarding the relationship with Turkey, which were presented by more than one party (Russia, Iran, Iraq).”

President Bashar al-Assad considered that the failure of the talks between him and the Turkish side was due to the absence of a “reference,” stressing that within the framework of “principles, any negotiation process needs a reference in order to succeed,” where he said that this reference is based on the issues of refugees and terrorism, and what Syria continuously declares regarding the issue of withdrawal from Syrian territory as well as terrorism.

Al-Assad added: “We do not believe that we have a problem with all of these four addresses, whether the Syrian addresses or the Turkish addresses, and there is not supposed to be a problem according to what some Turkish officials announce regarding the Syrian addresses as long as there are no bad intentions as they say.”

Assad also called for signing an agreement that guarantees the sovereignty of the two countries and sets out a roadmap for future negotiations, giving an unconditional green light to potential negotiations, saying: “It is not true that we will not start negotiations if Turkey does not withdraw its forces.”

Turkish officials have made various statements about the normalization process in recent months, with Erdogan saying on June 28 that “there is no reason why diplomatic relations cannot be established,” and on July 7 that an invitation to a possible meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad could be extended “at any time,” and indicating that he would respond to any positive step: “As soon as President Bashar al-Assad takes a step toward improving relations with Turkey, we will show this approach toward him. Because yesterday we were not enemies of Syria, we were meeting with Assad as a family. We want to restore Turkish-Syrian relations to the same point they were in the past.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said that talks held at various levels over the past year were not very active, but he continued that “the spirit of the times compels us to strive for peace and stability.”

Two weeks ago, National Defense Minister Yaşar Güler also said that “ministerial-level talks between Turkey and Syria are possible if the necessary conditions are met,” but he said that “coordination of withdrawal from Syria can only be discussed after the new constitution in Syria is approved, elections are held and the borders are secured.” He continued: “We are fully determined to establish a security corridor along our borders with Iraq and Syria. Negotiations with Syria are only taking place in Astana, with four parties: Iran, Turkey, Syria and Russia. Our goal is to reach a political solution in Syria on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution 2254, and our desire is to start a new process on a rational basis with our neighbor Syria.”

For his part, a diplomatic source in Ankara told the Novosti Agency that the possibility of negotiations between the leaders of Syria and Turkey in a third country is not excluded, but he denied the existence of any details about the timing and place of such a possible meeting.

Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov had previously announced Moscow’s readiness to organize a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish presidents, but that this requires serious preparation.

Source: Hurriyet