Turkey’s visit to Syria yet to be endorsed by Assad
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Information available signify the return of relations between Syria and Turkey needs just a nod by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iranian state-run Mehr news agency reported on Saturday.
Earlier, Dogu Perincek, head of the Patriotic Party announced he was intending to visit Syria without giving the date of the visit.
Later it emerged that official statesmen will accompany Perincek in his visit to the Syrian capital which is going to be okayed yet by the Syrian president.
In May, the Turkish president announced both Tel Rifaat in north of Aleppo and Manbij in the east, as his targeted cities for the alleged operation.
Turkey’s relation with Syria marred in 2011 following the Syrian crisis to which Turkey’s Erdogan took a defiant stance to the Syrian government led by al-Assad with whom Erdogan developed personal ties in 2000s.
The Syrian government has not yet commented on the widely circulated reports of Turkey’s endeavors to Syria. It accused time and again its northern neighbor of supporting terrorist groups.
Since mid-2011 both parties were on opposition sides. Turkey however occupies large areas of Syrian territories. Although diplomatic ties were on zero level, security meetings between both countries never halted. Damascus, however, adamantly denies Ankara’s claims.
On August 19, Erdogan told reporters he was no longer seeking to seize any Syrian territories. “We do not have eyes on the territory of Syria because the people of Syria are our brothers.”
For nearly a decade, Syria became a pariah state. This, however, seems changing, as a number of Arab countries restored diplomatic relations with Damascus. Both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) normalized ties with Syria. Observers say Turkey could be the next country to do so.
The whole idea is orchestrated and supported by Russia. On August 5, Russia’s Vladimir Putin met Erdogan in the city of Sochi. Since then the tone of Turkish top officials towards changes for the softer.
Turkey and Syria converge on fighting the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) each for different reasons. Damascus hopes to regain control of all Syrian territories while Ankara wants to put an end to the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) beyond its southern border for fears over its own Kurds.
The Turkish recent step towards the Syrian government caused unprecedented popular agitation in areas held by Turkish-backed armed opposition factions, which is known as Syrian National Army (SNA).