Iraq to host upcoming talks on normalisation of relations between Türkiye and Syria

Damascus demands withdrawal of Turkish forces in the north and a return to the pre-war state

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Iraq’s government announced Saturday that it plans to host talks between Turkey and Syria to help normalize relations between the two neighbors after a rift of more than a decade.

Relations between Ankara and Damascus have deteriorated since the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011. Turkey supported opposition insurgents seeking to overthrow Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Turkey has since launched military operations in its neighbouring country.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced on Saturday that his country had launched an initiative to mediate between Turkey and Syria, according to the official Iraqi news agency NINA.

Hussein added that he had consulted with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Washington to arrange a meeting in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital, with Syrian officials. “There are also ongoing contacts with the Syrian side,” he added.

The date for the talks will be set at a later date, he said.

In a sign of rapprochement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently said his country could extend an invitation to Assad “at any time” to discuss restoring ties.

“We want peace in Syria and we hope that all those who support peace will support this historic call,” Erdogan said earlier this week on his flight back from the United States, where he attended a NATO summit. He did not mention Iraq or any other country for a possible meeting with Assad.

There are around three million Syrian refugees in Turkey, who have recently been victims of attacks on their businesses amid an increasingly hostile environment towards them.

This rapprochement threatens the insurgent and pro-Turkish militias in northern Syria fighting against Assad’s forces and would facilitate the return to Syria of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees living in Turkey.

SYRIA ADVOCATES A RETURN TO THE PRE-WAR SITUATION

In a separate statement released on Saturday, the Syrian Foreign Ministry said any normalization efforts “are based on the return of the situation that prevailed before 2011, which is the basis for the security and stability of the two countries, noting that the interests of the countries are based on a healthy relationship between them, and not on conflict or hostility.”

Any such initiative must begin with the “withdrawal of forces illegally present on Syrian territory and of combatant groups,” referring to the Turkish military forces deployed in northern Syria against the Kurdish-Syrian militias of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), considered to be related to the Kurdish-Turkish armed group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), declared a terrorist organization by Ankara.

“The return to normal relations between the two countries must be based on the situation that prevailed before 2011, which is the basis for the security and stability of the two countries,” Damascus said in a statement reported by the official Syrian news agency SANA.

The Turkish president has expressed his willingness to normalise relations with Syria and meet with its president, but he has rejected Damascus’ stance in demanding the withdrawal of Turkish military forces.

“I am not opposed to talking to Bashar al-Assad, but what matters is his position. Assad wants Turkey to leave northern Syria. That is off the table. We are fighting terrorism there. How can we leave while there are terrorists on our borders?” he argued.