Ankara Must End Occupation To Restore Ties With Damascus: Syrian FM
Talks on restoring relations between Syria and Turkey cannot succeed until Turkey ends its occupation of Syrian territories, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said on Saturday. Mekdad was speaking at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, who was visiting Damascus. The Iranian foreign minister also met with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“We urge the other concerned parties,” Mekdad said, “to practice absolute positiveness in this regard because the talks cannot succeed in having normal relations without ending the occupation, ending terrorism, and restoring the relations to the previous fundamentals before the crisis.”
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Relations between Ankara and Damascus were normal before the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, Mekdad stressed, and it was Turkish intervention, sending troops into northern Syria to support rebel groups there, that led to the break in ties.
Amir-Abdollahian said Iran fully supports the Syrian position and praised the talks as positive for the two countries and the entire region.
The defense ministers of Russia, Syria, and Turkey met in Moscow in December – the first public meeting between Syrian and Turkish officials since the start of the civil war in 2011 – to discuss the conflict in Syria, the refugee crisis, and cooperation in combatting extremist groups.
