Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan no longer rules out a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. On Thursday, he spoke of a new peace process involving Russia.
“We will bring our foreign ministers together and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders,” Erdogan said. After the outbreak of civil war in Syria in 2011, the Turkish president had long pushed for a future for the neighboring country without Assad as president. Moreover, he had ruled out any contact with him. The Turkish government has been the main pillar of the Syrian opposition for more than a decade.
Defense ministers discussed migration and Kurds
On December 28, the defense ministers of Turkey and Syria met in Moscow. They spoke about migration and the Kurdish population, among other things. A few weeks ago, the Ankara government announced a ground offensive against Kurdish militias in northern Syria. The Kremlin had asked to abandon the offensive. In the past, Turkey has repeatedly taken military action against the Kurdish YPG militia in Syria, which it considers to be a wing of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party PKK.
Syrians fled to Turkey
Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed in the Syrian civil war so far. Millions of people are displaced. A large number fled to Turkey, but are increasingly rejected by the population there. Assad’s government is backed by Russia and Iran, and most of Syria’s territory has been recaptured.
Turkish-backed opposition fighters still control an area in the northwest of the country. US-backed Kurdish fighters also control an area near the Turkish border.
Source: Krone
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