Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s statements about the possibility of meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad provoked reactions from Syrian figures. Erdogan announced on Friday, June 28th, that he would work to develop relations with Syria “in the same way we did in the past.” While there were no official statements from the Syrian opposition coalition or the interim government, active and legal figures in the Syrian issue, along with analysts, criticized Erdogan’s statements. During a demonstration against the opening of the Abu al-Zindeen crossing between regime areas and opposition-controlled areas, demonstrators chanted phrases attacking the Turkish president.
Citizens also took to the streets in the city of Azaz, northwest of Aleppo, in a demonstration rejecting the integration of the opposition and the regime, and the opening of the Abu al-Zindeen crossing, believed to be opened by Ankara. On June 27th, demonstrations occurred in the city of Atmeh, in the northern countryside of Idlib, to protest statements by Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan about the unification of the regime and the opposition. The Turkish minister said, “We believe that Syria, if its government and opposition merge, will be an important player in the fight against PKK terrorism.”
Who is responsible?
The former head of the coalition, Moaz al-Khatib, posted on X on Friday, “Who is accountable for the heavy losses suffered by the Syrian people?”. He explained that the assessment of the political position of “one of the countries,” referring to Turkey, insisted that the presidential palace in Damascus would be under its control within six weeks. He added that at the time, the regime was very confused and weak, while the Syrians were strong enough to search for a solution to the issue of “al-Sayyed,” but attention to that was delayed for 11 years.
Khatib also criticized the opposition, saying it made a “fatal mistake when it betrayed anyone who tried to win over the regime’s allies to find a suitable way out” but instead accepted the friends of the Syrian people to communicate with them. Human rights defender Anwar al-Bunni said in a Facebook post that there was a process of masks falling, starting from the Gulf countries and reaching Turkey. “These people have never supported the Syrian people’s revolution; they put on masks of support to eliminate it from within and were relatively successful,” he said.Political analyst Qahtan al-Sharqi said in a post on X that Erdogan’s statements bear two sides: the first related to agreeing on a military operation or preparing for one against the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).The second aspect concerns “political steps” between the regime and the opposition, which need at least two months of extensive discussions to be agreed upon. Firas Faham, a researcher at the Abaad Center for Strategic Studies, said that the resumption of normalization talks with Assad is not related to any upcoming Turkish elections or blocking the exploitation of the refugee issue in Turkey. According to him, it is related to Russian efforts that exploit Ankara’s anger at the SDF’s intention to hold local elections with American consent.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. 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.
