An agenda for president-level talks between Türkiye and Syria will be created as political meetings between both sides will continue, the spokesperson for Türkiye's ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Ömer Çelik said on Monday.
“We are content with the point we reached so far,” Çelik told reporters in the party headquarters in Ankara, recalling that the talks between intelligence chiefs transformed into talks between defense ministers.
“There are issues we have to discuss including cooperation against terrorism,” he emphasized.
Çelik underlined that Türkiye aimed for a solution that embraced all Syrians and preserved the territorial integrity of the country.
The Russian, Turkish and Syrian defense ministers met in Moscow last month, the first such talks since the war broke out in Syria, in a clear sign of the normalization of ties between Ankara and Damascus.
At the meeting, held in a “constructive atmosphere,” it was agreed to continue “the format of trilateral meetings to ensure and maintain stability in Syria and the region,” according to the defense ministry.
The second phase of the talks will be the meeting between foreign ministers.
Most recently, foreign minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said that the top diplomats of Türkiye, Russia and Syria will meet "in the second half of January.”
"We have decided to hold a tripartite meeting in the second half of January. The meeting could take place in a third country," Çavuşoğlu told reporters.
The Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers had a brief informal exchange on the sidelines of a regional summit in 2021 and Ankara acknowledged intelligence contacts.
In November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a meeting with Syrian leader Bashar Assad was a possibility after cutting diplomatic ties with Damascus throughout the 11-year conflict.
In mid-December, he hinted he could meet with Assad after the meeting of both countries’ defense and foreign ministers. “We want to take a step as Syria, Türkiye and Russia,” he had said.
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 Assad defeated the opponent across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.
The meeting comes after the recent launch of Türkiye's Operation Claw-Sword, a cross-border aerial campaign against the PKK terrorist group and its Syrian wing, the YPG, which have illegal hideouts across the Iraqi and Syrian borders where they plan attacks on Turkish soil.
The country’s air operation followed a PKK/YPG terrorist attack on Nov. 13 on Istanbul’s crowded Istiklal Street that killed six people and left 81 injured.
After the air operation was launched, Erdoğan also signaled a ground operation to northern Iraq and northern Syria to eliminate the terrorist threat, adding that “this is not limited to just an air operation.”
The president specified northern Syria’s PKK/YPG-controlled Tal Rifaat, Manbij and Ain al-Arab (also known as Kobani) regions as possible targets to clear of terrorists.
