© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and intelligence chief Hakan Fidan are seen before a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia August 24, 2018. Alexander Zemlianiche
2/2
By Orhan Coskun and Laila Bassam
According to four sources, Mr.urkey’s intelligence chief has held several meetings with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus over the past few weeks, a sign of Russia’s efforts to encourage a thaw between countries. on two opposing sides in the war in Syria.
A regional source with ties to Damascus told Reuters that Hakan Fidan, the head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and Syria’s intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk met most recently this week in the capital of Syria.
The contacts reflect a shift in Russian policy as Moscow navigates its own protracted conflict in Ukraine and seeks to secure its position in Syria, where its forces have backed President Bashar al. -Assad since 2015, according to two Turkish officials and regional sources.
Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decades-long Syrian war.
Turkey’s backing is crucial to keeping the Syrian rebels in their last major territorial position in the northwest, after Assad defeated rebels across the rest of the country. country, with the support of Russia and Iran.
Reconstruction, however, faced major complications, including the fate of rebel fighters and millions of civilians, many of whom fled northwest to escape Chinese rule. Assad.
Turkey, a NATO member state, has troops all over the region, considered Assad’s occupying force.
During the meetings, Fidan – one of President Tayyip Erdogan’s closest confidants – and Mamlouk assessed how the two countries’ foreign ministers might eventually meet, according to a senior Turkish official and a source Turkish security news.
“Russia wants Syria and Turkey to fix their problems and reach certain agreements… for the benefit of everyone, both Turkey and Syria,” the Turkish official said. .
A major challenge is that Turkey wants to include Syrian rebels in any negotiations with Damascus, the official added.
SHIFT RUSSIA
The Turkish security official said Russia was gradually withdrawing some military resources from Syria to focus on Ukraine, and asked Turkey to normalize relations with Assad to “promote a political solution”. rule” in Syria.
An allied source in Damascus said Russia had pushed Syria to join the negotiations as Moscow sought to undermine its position and that of Assad in the event that it had to redeploy forces to Ukraine. Russia has suffered serious losses on the ground in Ukraine over the past week.
The most recent meetings – including Fidan’s two-day visit to Damascus in late August – sought to form the basis for sessions at higher levels, the source said.
The senior Turkish official said Ankara does not want to see Iranian or Iranian-backed forces – already widely deployed in government-controlled areas of Syria – fill the gaps left by the withdrawal. left by Russian troops.
A Turkish security official said Russia did not want to see Iran’s influence expand as it reduced its presence.
A diplomat based in the region said that Russia withdrew a limited number of troops from southern Syria earlier this summer, especially in areas along the border with Israel, which subsequently filled by forces affiliated with Iran.
While Fidan and Mamlouk have spoken intermittently for the past two years, the pace and timing of recent meetings suggest a new urgency for contacts.
Regional sources allied with Damascus and a second senior pro-Assad source in the Middle East said Turkish-Syrian relations had made progress, but did not give details.
A third regional source with ties to Damascus said Turkish-Syrian relations had already begun to thaw and were approaching the stage of “creating an atmosphere of understanding”.
The sources, who remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the contacts, have not been released publicly.
The Russian Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Turkey’s MIT declined to comment and the Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment. The Syrian information ministry did not immediately respond to emailed questions from Reuters.
CANNOT BECOME MEANING
The Turkish-Syrian relationship seemed unthinkable earlier in the Syrian conflict, which began with the uprising against Assad in 2011, which killed hundreds of thousands, drawing in many foreign powers. and divided the country.
Erdogan has called Assad a terrorist and said there can be no peace in Syria while he is in office, while Assad has called Erdogan a thief for “stealing” Syria’s land.
But in an apparent change of tone last month, Erdogan said he could never rule out dialogue and diplomacy with Syria.
Erdogan faces tight elections next year, in which the key issue will be the repatriation of some of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees currently in Turkey.
The Turkish-Syrian contacts come amid a series of meetings between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including one scheduled for Friday in Uzbekistan.
In July, Turkey helped sign a United Nations-backed deal that lifted the blockade on grain exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, which had been in place since the 24 May invasion. 2 of Russia to the neighboring country.
After a recent visit to Moscow, Erdogan said Putin had asked Turkey to cooperate with Damascus along their shared border, where Ankara has carried out a number of attacks on areas where Kurdish groups are located. Syria has been self-governing since 2011.
Turkey has threatened to launch another offensive against US-backed Kurdish forces, which Ankara considers a national security threat. Russia has signaled its opposition to such an attack.
