Turkish Defense Minister Says Syrian Rebels Should Avoid ‘Provocations’ Amid Ankara-Damascus Talks

Turkey’s Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Tuesday said normalization talks between Ankara and Damascus would not lead Turkey to take any actions against Syrian rebels opposed to Bashar Assad’s government, and that opposition groups protesting those talks should “act with this awareness” and avoid “provocations,” the semiofficial Anadolu news agency reported. “We hope that [the talks] develop through mutual negotiations and turn into a situation that will contribute to peace and stability for the region,” Akar told reporters after a cabinet meeting. He also said that the return of Syrians who found refuge in Turkey would “voluntarily” be in line with UN decisions on the matter. Turkey hosts nearly 3.7 million refugees from Syria. On Dec. 28, 2022, the defense ministers of Syria, Turkey, and Russia, along with intelligence chiefs, met in Moscow in the first high-level contact between Ankara and Damascus since the start of the Syrian conflict. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced last week that he may meet Assad in an effort to bring peace and stability to the war-torn region. The two leaders have not met since before the 2011 outbreak of the Syrian civil war, a conflict that has seen Turkey provide political and military support to the rebels trying to overthrow Assad’s regime.