North-Press Agency
Shoresh Darwish
The meeting that brought together the head of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, with his Syrian counterpart, Maj. Gen. Ali Mamlouk, has dropped the curtain on a long chapter of the Turkish-Syrian disruption that continued throughout the years of the Syrian crisis, and it is a doubtful break, since other meeting sessions brought together the two parties, beside that Astana and Sochi sessions represented the theoretical introduction to Moscow's last "practical" meeting. Perhaps the symbolic aspect of this meeting has overwhelmed the previous ones, as the session convened between two influential figures in the scene of the Syrian war carry many indications of which its meaning can be predicted, as the meeting discloses a last turn by Turkey which may lead to a later normalization in the bilateral relations.
The meeting which took place on January 13, was intended to be away from the lenses of the media, as was the case with a few meetings which were rumored to have taken place between the two intelligence apparatus apparatuses of the two countries and under the auspices of both individuals, or in the presence of one of them, but unlike the previous times of which were wrapped up in ambiguity and secrecy, the last meeting may be sufficient to read the new scene, because convening of the meeting is a major Russian breakthrough and a beginning to the normalization of the Turkish-Syrian relationship. Moreover, it wipes out the last of Erdogan's red lines, as the Turkish president insisted throughout the years of the Syrian crisis on refusing to "shake hands" with the Syrian Presidency.
What is revealed by the meeting is the new Turkish certainty based on the impossibility of fighting Russia and the impossibility of keeping the tracks of Astana and Sochi alive, as well as that the Turkish tools in Syria (the armed opposition groups) appear to be in a state of awareness and cannot be reused, this comes in light of the disruption of Geneva path, and the de facto power over international decisions regarding the Syrian crisis, especially Resolution No. 2254. Thus the last Turkish turn and achieving what is possible, is the best thing and a way out for Turkey from the Syrian war quagmire at the lowest costs.
There are issues related to the subsequent normalization between Damascus and Ankara, including Damascus's insistence, with the Russian support, on "defeating terrorism" and extending the influence of the "state" over all the Syrian territories, and implementing "Adana Agreement” in 1998 as the only remaining way out for the Turks.
According to the graph of the defeats which affected the Turkish project, approval means abandoning the armed opposition groups after supporting and using them. It also means that the Turkish exit from the Syrian territories to the terms of Adana Agreement has become a matter of time, but the Turkish constant ambition will remain the same, pursuit of the aspirations of the Syrian Kurds, and returning them to the fold of Damascus in the event that it is impossible to destroy them by purely military means.
Despite the loss of the Syrian Kurds to many of regions that constitute their historical depth in Syria on both banks of the Euphrates in favor of the Turkish occupation, and the sharp demographic change operations which are taking place in northern Syria, in addition to the systematic destruction of the environment and historical monuments, the Turkification of the official circles and linking the occupied areas with the adjacent Turkish provinces, nevertheless, the Turkish voracity will not stop until the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which is the developing muscle and the influential team of Syria's Kurds, is removed, as this issue does not accept Turkish turn as is the case with other and varied "turns", and Syria's Kurds have nothing to do with this Turkish pragmatic approach, as the Turkish pragmatism get disrupted when it comes to the Kurds of Syria, and politics turns into nihilism and stiff language.
Although the issue of East Euphrates and the fate of the Syrian Kurds were absent from Moscow meeting, according to the Russian leaks, and that the meeting was limited to discussing the situation in Idlib and respecting the sovereignty of Syria and the file of terrorism, this does not mean that Ankara will agree to any subsequent normalization without harming the Syrian Kurds, dismantling the SDF and implementing Adana Agreement in north-eastern Syria, of course, the Syrian government will not save such an opportunity as long as what is required from it is possible, which is striking the aspirations of the Kurds.
Thus, the Syrian Kurds would remain as the mean which sticks Ankara and Damascus regimes, and the issue of finishing off the Kurdish aspirations will remain Turkey's basic condition for any turn which it would take, even if it's the last, as long as the Turkish dreams of mastering the region were unsuccessful and suffered many defeats along the Arab countries that witnessed the first “Arab Spring” waves, and if the question of Syria's Kurds is few to the Turkish aspirations, the Turkish media machine will ensure its enlargement and make it the major issue remaining in the empty basket of Erdogan.
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