Russia understands Türkiye’s concerns about the presence of members of the PKK terrorist group’s Syrian wing, the YPG, in northern Syria, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday as the countries struggle to see eye to eye on targeting terrorist groups.

Defense officials from Türkiye, Syria and Russia held landmark talks at the end of last year in an effort to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus after years of war in the Middle Eastern country.

NATO member Türkiye has played a major part in the conflict, backing Bashar Assad’s opponents and sending troops into the north. Moscow is Assad’s main ally and Russian President Vladimir Putin has urged reconciliation with Ankara.

Lavrov on Wednesday also announced he would meet with his counterparts from Türkiye and Syria to discuss the ongoing situation, a week after a senior Turkish official revealed the three countries were aiming to bring together their foreign ministers sometime this month in what would be the highest-level talks between Ankara and Damascus since the civil war broke out in 2011.

“Türkiye, as you know, is in favor of normalizing relations with Damascus,” Lavrov told a televised news conference.

Russia had been asked to mediate between the two neighbors, he said. Therefore, a meeting of foreign ministers was now being set up, Lavrov said, echoing the anonymous Turkish official.

“One of the biggest problems is Idlib,” Lavrov pointed out. Türkiye, he said, must separate the pro-Turkish forces there from the Nusra Front, which Moscow and Damascus classify as terrorists.

Joint Turkish-Russian patrols along the main highway to Aleppo have also not worked so far, Lavrov noted.

The conflict in Syria, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and drawn in regional and world powers, has rolled into a second decade, although fighting has subsided.

With backing from Russia and Iran, Assad’s regime has recovered most of Syria’s territory. Turkish-backed opposition fighters still control a pocket in the northwest, and YPG terrorists backed by the United States also control territory near the Turkish border.

The U.S. has mainly partnered with the terrorist YPG in fighting against Daesh in Syria. Ankara strongly opposes its presence in northern Syria, where it can plan attacks on Turkish territory and terrorizes local Syrians. Multiple Turkish officials have underlined that “subcontracting” a terrorist group to fight another was “a mistake.”

The meeting of top diplomats would shift talks toward political issues and away from security, and set the stage for Assad and Erdoğan to meet. Erdoğan earlier in January expressed willingness to meet his foe after the foreign ministers of both countries met.

Late in December, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also revealed Türkiye was in talks with Russia related to using Syrian airspace in a possible operation against the YPG. Ankara had also indicated that Türkiye and Syria could work on counterterrorism efforts as the YPG occupies almost one-third of the land in Syria, thereby damaging the territorial integrity of the country.

The situation on the Turkish-Syrian border remains difficult as Türkiye strives to target YPG terrorists’ home bases in the region and preserve a security strip it has been working to establish for years.

Source: Daily Sabah

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The United Nations’ special envoy for Syria called on the constitutional committee to return to the table after almost a year.

Addressing the Security Council, Geir Pedersen said he is “concerned” by the 10-month lapse, which he said, “sends a troubling message: That Syrians’ ability to search for a comprehensive solution is held hostage to issues unrelated to their country.”

“The committee must resume its work in Geneva in a spirit of compromise, substance and at pace,” he said, adding: “The situation today is so unprecedented that it calls for leadership, bold ideas and a cooperative spirit. A political solution is the only way forward for Syria. We may not be able to reach that in one step – but I believe we can progress toward it gradually.”

Turning to ongoing efforts to remedy devastation brought by devastating earthquakes in neighboring Syria, Pedersen said it is “absolutely vital” to get direly needed resources to northwest Syria to address “the immense suffering arising from the conflict.”

A “sustained calm” is also needed, particularly in earthquake-afflicted regions, Pedersen said, noting “a creeping rise in incidents,” including rocket fire and shelling and “crossline raids.”

The committee meetings, which started in October 2019 with 150 members, are the first concrete step to drafting a new constitution to determine Syria’s future.

Syria has been embroiled in a vicious civil war since early 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with brute ferocity.

Source: Daily Sabah

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The Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) on Monday condemned the suspension of United Nations’ aid deliveries through a crossing from Türkiye to northwestern Syria for the past seven weeks.

In a written statement, the rights group said that since U.N. aid halted, civilians residing in camps in the region have been facing difficult circumstances, as the supply of bread to numerous refugee camps had been cut off.

For seven weeks now, aid to northwestern Syria has been suspended since the cross-border aid mechanism expired on July 10 and after Russia vetoed the resolution to extend aid crossings in the U.N. Security Council on July 11.

Under a resolution adopted in 2014, international aid was sent to people in northwestern Syria via Türkiye. The aid, mostly food and medicine, is estimated to have reached 4 million people. After an earthquake killed more than 56,000 people in Türkiye and Syria in February, Syria allowed the U.N. to use those two border crossings from Türkiye to dispatch aid. The approval was due to expire on Aug. 13.

The mandate of the U.N. aid mechanism was previously extended until July 10 by a decision on Jan. 10.

Just days later, Damascus authorized the mechanism for another six months, saying the deliveries would have to be in “full cooperation and coordination with the Bashar Assad regime,” but those aid deliveries are yet to resume because the U.N. has concerns with “two unacceptable conditions.”

The same conditions have not been imposed on the U.N. use of the Bab al-Salam and Al Ra’ee border crossings.

Syrians who fled Bashar Assad’s rule fear he may soon be able to choke off badly needed aid as Damascus acts to establish sway over U.N. assistance into the opposition-held northwest, the last major bastion of the Syrian opposition.

Source: Daily Sabah

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Ankara and Damascus are starting talks for the return of Syrian refugees to areas under the Assad regime’s control, Çavuşoğlu says as anti-refugee rhetoric takes over opposition circles ahead of Türkiye’s presidential runoff

Ankara has begun engaging with Bashar Assad’s regime in Damascus to repatriate Syrian refugees in Türkiye to not only safe zones but also to cities controlled by the regime, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Sunday.

“We must send Syrians back to the cities they come from and we have launched talks with the regime and reached a consensus to lay the groundwork for this,” Çavuşoğlu said in a televised interview amid rising debate over the presence of some 3.5 million Syrians ahead of the presidential runoff on May 28.

Over half a million Syrians have been sent back to their homeland so far but it’s not enough, the Turkish diplomat noted, adding that the sides were working on a road map to establish the necessary infrastructure.

“We are determined to send (Syrians) back but we need to do it in an honorable way,” Çavuşoğlu stressed.

Dismissing increasing rumors that Türkiye’s southeastern borders were “flooded” with asylum-seekers from Syria and Afghanistan, Çavuşoğlu assured all necessary precautions were taken.

Anti-refugee sentiments in Türkiye have been on the rise in recent months, largely stoked by opposition parties that have sought nationalist votes in the runup to May 14’s presidential and parliamentary polls.

Türkiye has hosted millions of Syrians who fled persecution and brutality in their country since the civil war broke out in 2011 when the Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Erdoğan’s government has been working to ensure the return of those willing to return to safe zones it established across northern Syria, while the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) continue battling terrorists from groups like the PKK, its Syrian branch, the YPG, as well as remnants of Daesh via cross-border operations and backing moderate Syrian opposition against Assad.

Conversely, Ankara and Damascus have intensified steps for normalizing ties since last year. With Russia and Iran’s participation, Çavuşoğlu met his Syrian counterpart in Moscow earlier this month for the highest-level talks between the archfoes since 2011.

Negotiations especially accelerated after the Feb. 6 earthquakes centered in Türkiye’s southern region killed over 56,000 people in both countries.

Following the disaster, around 42,000 Syrians also crossed over to their country to check on their relatives and homes, as reported by Turkish officials.

While most Syrians in Türkiye aren’t eligible to vote, their presence and potential return have been a major part of politicians’ discourse in election campaigns, with the main opposition candidate Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, in particular, harshening his anti-refugee rhetoric after his first round loss and vowing to “stack up and send Syrians packing.”

Rampant misinformation and hate speech on social media platforms, especially by opposition supporters, have fueled xenophobia and violence toward Syrian refugees.

For Çavuşoğlu, the matter of their return needs “hard contemplation” for better management.

“You cannot say this through just hate speech or populism,” he told Habertürk TV. “Yes, a lot of refugees came to Türkiye from Syria and Afghanistan through Iran. We sent many Afghans back to their country, after the Taliban (came to power) too. We send them on flights and they wanted to go back as well.”

Çavuşoğlu argued that the revival of the political process for a solution to the Syrian crisis, clearing Syria of terrorist groups and the safe return of Syrians were all “connected” topics.

“Where there is terrorism, Syrian Kurds in Türkiye don’t want to go back because they suffer under PKK tyranny,” Çavuşoğlu noted.

Underlining the need for expediting infrastructural work for the return and ensuring life security, as well as United Nations’ involvement, Çavuşoğlu said, “It also wouldn’t be accurate to claim we will send back all Syrians in the country. Türkiye currently needs laborers in sectors like agriculture, industry and retail.”

He dismissed “attempts to provoke people” via various disinformation campaigns on social media that use fake footage to claim migrants are crossing over the Turkish-Iranian border, especially during the pre-election period.

“There’s a wall along our Iranian border and many irregular refugees from Pakistan, Africa or anywhere else who illegally enter Türkiye are sent back,” Çavuşoğlu said.

Source: Daily Sabah

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