IDLIB, Syria (North Press) – Youssef Abdurrahman, 27, a university student in the city of Idlib in northwest Syria, flatly rejects any kind of rapprochement between the Syrian government and Turkey. He believes that talking about the matter is “a betrayal of the sacrifices made by the Syrian people.”
Recently, media reports abounded about Ankara’s attempts to move towards a rapprochement with Damascus and President Erdogan’s requests for a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad. However, Damascus rejected the idea of holding a meeting before the Turkish elections and demanded Turkey withdraw from Syrian territory.
“It is not strange for Turkey to take such a position. It has a long tradition of fluctuating international positions for domestic political gains,” Abdurrahman said.
He believes that the Turkish position is “political short-sightedness and incompetence by the Turkish officials in reading the reality and foreseeing the future.”
The recent change in the Turkish regime’s position towards Syria has become clear. The main actor in this is Russia which does not spare efforts to bring the two sides closer to put aside their differences, according to official statements and the reality on the ground.
Abdurrahman recalls the exchange of large areas in Idlib, Hama, Aleppo, and Rif Dimashq governorates between the Syrian government and the Turkish-backed armed opposition factions under Russian mediation.
He pointed out that the people of Idlib have lost faith in the Turkish positions regarding the Syrian people to use them against the Turkish opposition parties in the upcoming elections.
He considered the invitation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to hold a meeting with his Syrian counterpart only to obtain additional gains and votes in the upcoming elections.
The relations between the two regimes were not interrupted at all, according to the university student.
Residents and activists in the Syrian opposition-controlled areas in Idlib reject the recent rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara by Russia.
On Dec. 15, the Turkish president said he sought to hold a trilateral meeting with his Syrian and Russian counterparts.
The Turkish president said, on his way back from Turkmenistan to Turkey, “I offered Putin to organize a meeting of the leaders of Russia, Turkey, and Syria.”
The normalization between Syrian and Turkish governments was first touched on August 11 when the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had held a short talk with his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, a while ago.
At the time, Cavusoglu hinted at reconciliation between the Syrian government and the opposition. He said, “We have to somehow bring opposition and the regime in Syria together to reach an agreement. Otherwise, there will be no lasting peace.”
Majd al-Masri, a 32-year-old civil activist based in Idlib, said the Turkish statements are just a political temporary maneuver by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) to obtain more gains in the upcoming elections.
This maneuver comes at a time when the Turkish opposition waved its desire to meet with the Syrian president to return the Syrian refugees, “however, the AKP tried to use the same method to withdraw this card from the hands of the Turkish opposition which is trying to present itself as an alternative to Erdogan’s AKP.
Al-Masri added that the matter of rapprochement is nothing more than a “media bubble” unless there is a greater understanding and an international and regional desire to solve the Syrian crisis, “but this is currently unlikely”.
Ali al-Shemali, a displaced person from the northern countryside of Hama who lives in Idlib, said that the rapprochement between Damascus and Ankara if it happens, is “a serious indicator” for the Syrians living in the opposition-held areas, and for the refugees in Turkey alike.
“Such a rapprochement threatens their lives and is not in the interest of the revolution. It is also an election propaganda that will only benefit Turkish politicians,” al-Shemali added.