Türkiye does not have preconditions for dialogue with the Syrian government, and talks should be goal-oriented, Türkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday in a further softening of Ankara’s stance towards Damascus.
Türkiye has backed opposition fighting to topple Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad, and cut diplomatic relations with Damascus early in the 11-year conflict.
But Russian intervention has helped Assad’s government drive the opposition back to a pocket of northwest Syria. Erdogan said after talks in Russia earlier this month that President Vladimir Putin had suggested Türkiye cooperate with the Syrian government to tackle violence along their joint border.
Erdogan has warned that Türkiye could launch another military incursion into northern Syria targeting Syria Kurdish fighters to extend a ‘safe zone’ where Ankara says some of the 3.6 million Syrian refugees that it currently hosts could return.
“There cannot be a condition for dialogue, but what is the aim of these contacts? The country needs to cleared of terrorists… People need to be able to return,” Cavusoglu said, Reuters reported.
“No conditions for dialogue, but what is the aim, the target? It needs to be goal-oriented,” he added.
Asked last week about potential talks with Damascus, Erdogan was quoted as saying diplomacy between states can never be fully severed. There is a “need to take further steps with Syria,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of his comments to Turkish media.
The Syrian Observer has not verified the content of this story. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
