Turkish FM says talks with Russia, Iran on Syria to continue

Türkiye continues efforts toward normalising relations with Syria in the four-party format, involving Russia and Iran, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on September 3.

"Together with Iran and Russia, we continue to work on Syria in the four-party format. The range of issues is quite large. Naturally, there are some things that are unacceptable for each of the sides. We continue discussions," he said after talks with his Iranian counterpart, Hossein Amir Abdollahian, in Tehran. The news conference was aired by Türkiye ’s Anadolu news agency, TASS reports.

"Türkiye expressed clear expectations of what it wants to see on the part of Syria" in the process of the normalisation of their bilateral relations, Fidan said.

"It includes first of all credible concrete measures of the Syrian government to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees from Türkiye to their homeland and to prevent new waves of refugees to our country. We also expect Syria to pay due attention to cooperation with us in fighting terrorists, in particular, against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party [recognised as a terrorist organisation in Türkiye]."

The process of the normalisation of relations between Ankara and Damascus kicked off on December 28, 2022, after Moscow hosted consultations between the Russian, Syrian, and Turkish defence ministers. The meeting yielded an agreement on the establishment of a trilateral commission.

It was decided that these consultations would be followed by talks between the countries’ foreign ministers who will look at issues of organizing talks between the Turkish and Syrian Presidents, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Assad. Later, it was reported that the Iranian foreign minister will also take part in the consultations.

The first meeting in the four-party format was held in Moscow in May. The top Russian, Turkish, Syrian, and Iranian diplomats instructed their deputies to work out a roadmap for normalizing relations between Damascus and Ankara. During the meeting on Syria in the Astana format on June 20-21, the sides discussed a draft roadmap. However, according to the Russian presidential envoy for the Syrian settlement Alexander Lavrentyev, the document needs further consideration.

These efforts are expected to be crowned by a personal meeting between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Türkiye and Bashar Assad of Syria. They severed communication in 2011 over critical differences concerning the methods of settling the Syrian crisis.