Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu announced on Wednesday that he would meet his Syrian counterpart on May 10 as part of normalization talks between the two countries, which Moscow will host. Russian and Iranian foreign ministers will also attend the meeting.
Speaking to Turkish broadcaster NTV, Türkiye’s top diplomat said the date of the ministerial level meeting was not final yet but was highly likely before May 14 elections in Türkiye.
Last month, Moscow hosted a quadrilateral meeting in Moscow on Tuesday between Türkiye, Russia, Syria and Iran, where the sides discussed "concrete steps" that can be taken to normalize Turkish-Syrian relations.
The parties also discussed "the fight against terrorist organizations and all extremist groups on Syrian territory," the Turkish defense ministry said in a statement after that meeting. Stepping up efforts to return Syrian refugees to their countries was another issue on the agenda of the four countries. The Defense Ministry’s statements come as the defense ministers and intelligence heads of Ankara, Moscow, Tehran and Damascus met.
Russia’s long-standing effort to open a channel of dialogue between Türkiye and the Bashar Assad regime paid off last year, as the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia and the Bashar Assad regime met in Moscow for the first time in years.
Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war. Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining moderate Syrian opposition in their last significant territorial foothold in the northwest after Bashar Assad defeated opponents across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran. However, according to statements from the Bashar Assad regime, Damascus wants to end the Turkish presence on Syrian territories.
Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border – Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019 – in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents. The PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing, the YPG, has controlled much of northeastern Syria since Bashar Assad’s forces withdrew in 2012. Turkish officials have voiced that Ankara and Damascus could cooperate in returning Syrian refugees in Türkiye and counterterrorism efforts as the PKK/YPG still controls much of the war-torn country’s east. Assad has been unable to establish territorial integrity. Conversely, normalization has also been ongoing with the regime and the Arab world.
Çavuşoğlu highlighted the need for "concrete results" from the Constitutional Committee, which convened eight times before. A 2012 U.N. road map to peace in Syria approved by representatives of the United Nations, the Arab League, the European Union, Türkiye and all five permanent Security Council members calls for drafting a new constitution. It ends with U.N.-supervised elections with all Syrians, including diaspora members, eligible to participate. A Security Council resolution adopted in December 2015 unanimously endorsed the road map. At a Russia-hosted Syrian peace conference in January 2018, an agreement was reached to form a 150-member committee to draft a new constitution, which a more petite 45-member body would draft, including 15 members each from the regime, opposition and civil society. However, it took until September 2019 for the committee to be formed and little progress has been achieved.
The minister underlined that a joint fight was necessary against the terrorist groups, noting that Daesh and the YPG/PKK wanted to "divide" Syria while Türkiye had no intention of capturing any Syrian territory.
Çavuşoğlu also spoke about the return of Syrian refugees in Türkiye to their homeland. The issue is one of the points of contention in negotiations. Türkiye hosts the most significant number of Syrian refugees in the world. Still, the government says refugees can only be returned to their country voluntarily and in a dignified manner. Çavuşoğlu had assured the refugees that they would not be forced to return even if ties were normalized with the Assad regime. "We have to ensure the voluntary return of refugees in a controlled way," he said. Çavuşoğlu also ruled out the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the area without resumption of stability. "Terrorist groups would certainly fill the void left by withdrawal (without establishing stability). Our withdrawal does not mean that (the Assad) regime would be able to control the territory fully. A conflict will arise if we withdraw now; Türkiye will receive more refugees in return. Under these circumstances, the opposition’s pledge to withdraw Turkish troops immediately is unrealistic," Çavuşoğlu said. The opposition bloc challenging incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan vowed a swift return of refugees and ending military operations in Syria and Iraq, two countries where Türkiye pursues counterterrorism efforts.
Situation in Sudan
On the ongoing violence in Sudan, Çavuşoğlu said Türkiye has so far evacuated at least 2,061 people, including 1,763 Turkish nationals, from the country amid weeks of fighting between the army and a paramilitary group.
He said a military plane would pull Turkish health personnel out of Sudan, adding that Türkiye’s Embassy in the capital, Khartoum, would be temporarily relocated to Port Sudan, where evacuations would occur.
"Together with the African Union and Ethiopia, we strive for a permanent cease-fire in Sudan. In addition to phone calls, there will be higher-level contacts in the coming days and face-to-face meetings," he said.
Hundreds have been killed, while thousands have been injured in the fighting between the Sudanese army and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) since April 15, according to Sudan’s Health Ministry. In recent months, there has been a disagreement between the army and the paramilitary force regarding the RSF’s integration into the armed forces, a critical condition of Sudan’s transition agreement with political groups. Sudan has been without a functioning government since October 2021, when the military dismissed Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok’s transitional government and declared a state of emergency in a move decried by political forces as a "coup." Sudan’s transitional period, which started in August 2019 after the ouster of President Omar al-Bashir, is scheduled to end with elections in early 2024.