Turkey-Syria claim by the Lebanese press
The normalization process started between Turkey and Syria is closely followed in the Middle East press.
After President Tayyip Erdoğan signaled he could meet Syrian President Bashar Assad, National Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and MIT Director Hakan Fidan met their Syrian and Russian counterparts in Moscow in December. As the process moved towards normalization after this meeting, which marked the first official contact with the Damascus administration in 11 years, the condition to “withdraw Turkish soldiers from Syria to normalize relations with Turkey” came from Assad.
Speaking to the Russian press in Moscow last week, Assad said he was ready to meet Erdogan, but for this Turkish soldiers had to withdraw from northern Syria.
Following this statement, the four-way meeting, which was scheduled with the participation of Iran, was postponed.
‘THEY WILL TRY TO CONSUME ESAD’
As these developments were closely watched in the region, the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar made a remarkable statement. According to the report, Turkey is ready to make concessions for the progress of normalization talks with Damascus and is considering withdrawing its troops from Syria.
In the news, which claimed that Turkey is working on a plan to withdraw the troops and evaluating options, Syrian opposition sources were also reported to have confirmed this. Opposition sources told Al-Akhbar: “Turkish officials are working on various options for the future of the Turkish military presence in Syria.”
Al-Akhbar also stated that Turkey will convey its proposals on the issue to Russian and Iranian mediators and ask Tehran and Moscow to persuade Syria. Also among the accusations was that “Ankara promised to abide by the agreement regardless of the outcome of the elections in Turkey.”
It is claimed that while Russia continues its efforts to hold a four-way meeting for the progress of the normalization process, Damascus has not given up its insistence on the withdrawal of Turkish soldiers from Syria.