QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – A report published by Reuters on Thursday showcased Turkish-Syrian contacts on an intelligence level to mend the fences between the two countries, noting that Russia has a key role in the ongoing conversations.
Reuters cited a regional source aligned with the Syrian government as saying that Hakan Fidan, head of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), and Syrian intelligence chief Ali Mamlouk met as recently as this week in the Syrian capital Damascus.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has supported the Syrian opposition since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, so any normalization between the two countries would reshape the decade-long Syrian war.
The Turkish-backed opposition armed factions, also known as Syrian National Army (SNA), have always been considered as terrorist by Damascus.
However, any rapprochement faces big problems, including the fate of SNA militants and millions of civilians who live in the SNA-held areas after fleeing the Syrian government.
During the meetings, Fidan and Mamlouk evaluated how the two countries’ foreign ministers could eventually meet, a senior Turkish official and a Turkish security source told Reuters.
“Russia wants Syria and Turkey to overcome their problems and achieve certain agreements…which are in the interest of everyone, both Turkey and Syria,” said the Turkish official.
One big challenge stems from Turkey’s desire to include the Syrian opposition in any talks with Damascus, the official added.
The Turkish security official said Russia asked Turkey to normalize relations with Syrian government to “accelerate a political solution” in Syria.
“The Damascus-allied source said Russia had nudged Syria to enter talks as Moscow seeks to nail down its position and that of Assad in the event it must redeploy forces to Ukraine,” Reuters reported.
The recent meetings – including a two-day visit by Fidan to Damascus at the end of August – had sought to pave the way for conversations at a higher level, the source said.
The senior Turkish official said Ankara does not want to see Iranian or Iran-backed militias filling gaps left by Russian withdrawals in the government-held areas. He said that Russia was on the same page with Turkey on this issue.
The Damascus-aligned source and a second senior pro-government source in the Middle East said the Turkish-Syrian contacts had made significant advances, without further elaboration.
A third regional source aligned with Damascus said Turkish-Syrian ties had begun to improve and were advancing to a stage of “creating a climate for understanding,” said Reuters.
The Turkish-Syrian contacts come in tandem with a number of meetings between Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin, including one scheduled on Friday in Uzbekistan.
On August 6, Erdogan revealed intelligence collaboration between his country and the Syrian government regarding what he called “fighting terrorism.”
By “terrorism”, Erdogan refers to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) and the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
In recent months, Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to launch a major cross-border offensive in to invade the SDF-held cities of Manbij and Tel Rifaat in northern Syria.