Line in the Sand: Assad Won't Meet Erdogan Until Turkish Troops Exit Syria

Russian and Iranian diplomats have worked tirelessly in recent months to facilitate the normalization of relations between Damascus and Ankara – as part of a broader regional realignment which has seen former sworn enemies of the Assad government restore ties with the Syrian Arab Republic.

The possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will depend on the withdrawal of all Turkish forces from Syrian territory, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad has said.

"President Assad’s meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan is contingent on the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syrian territory," Mekdad said in an interview with Russian media on Sunday.

According to the top diplomat, there cannot be any talk of a normalization of relations so long as Ankara continues to occupy Syrian lands.

"Normalization can only be achieved after the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria, and we highly appreciate the effort made by [our] Russian friends," Mekdad said.

Mekdad’s comments echo remarks made by President Assad in March, when he told a Sputnik correspondent that a meeting with Erdogan would be "linked to arriving at a stage" where Turkiye commits to leave Syria, "end its support of terrorism and restore the situation that prevailed before the start of the war on Syria."

"This is the only situation when it would be possible to have a meeting between me and Erdogan. Aside from that, what’s the value of such a meeting and why would we hold it if it would not achieve final results for the war in Syria?" Assad asked at the time.

Russia and Iran, which enjoy friendly relations with both Syria and Turkiye, have worked extensively in recent months to put the decade-long crisis in relations between Damascus and Ankara to rest.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met with his Syrian, Iranian, and Turkish counterparts in Moscow to discuss Syria-Turkiye rapprochement, outlining a diplomatic roadmap for normalization, and calling on Damascus and Ankara to discuss repairing transportation and logistics corridors and resume trade and economic cooperation "without any barriers."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu focused his remarks at the meeting on the need to expand cooperation in the fight against terrorism, and to "advance the political process" in Syria. Cavusoglu also reiterated Turkiye's commitment to the protection of Syria's territorial integrity.

This month's talks were preceded by a similar meeting hosted by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in April, and negotiations in Moscow at the deputy foreign ministerial level the same month.

Syria and Turkiye severed relations in March 2012, after Ankara and other regional nations including Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Israel joined a US-led push to overthrow the Syrian government, and helped facilitate the flow of Islamist rebels and weapons into the country.

After Russia's intervention in the crisis in September 2015, Ankara shifted its goals, moving to establish a border buffer zone between Turkiye and Syria, sending troops into the neighboring country to "fight terrorism" and Kurdish fighters with suspected ties to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party – a Turkiye-based militant group which Ankara classifies as terrorists.

Turkiye and its militant allies in the rebel-held province of Idlib currently control about a tenth of Syria. Syrian officials have repeatedly called on Ankara, as well as Washington and Tel Aviv, to immediately end their occupation of the war-torn Middle Eastern nation and return these territories to the control of the internationally recognized government in Damascus.

The apparent continued roadblock in Syrian-Turkish ties comes against the backdrop of the unprecedented normalization of relations between Damascus and its Arab neighbors, and President Assad’s triumphant return to the Arab League last week.