Retreat in the course of rapprochement between Damascus- Turkish occupation

Bashar al-Assad said that any future talks with Turkey must be based on; Two goals: ending the occupation of Syrian lands and stopping Ankara's support for terrorism, and that the meetings "must be based on coordination and prior planning between Syria and Russia in order to reach the tangible goals and results that Syria wants from these meetings."

Al-Assad made these statements, which were reported by official media affiliated with the Damascus government, last Thursday, in a meeting with Alexander Lavrentiev. The special envoy of the Russian president in Damascus, where Moscow supports the rapprochement between the Damascus government and the Turkish occupation state, and hosted talks between the defense ministers of the three countries last month, and is working to arrange meetings between the foreign ministers and eventually between the presidents.

Informed source on the negotiations told Reuters that the Damascus government wants the Turkish occupation state; Withdraw its forces from areas in the north and stop its support for three main "opposition" factions.

The source added that the Damascus government is keen to see progress on these demands through follow-up committees before approving a meeting of foreign ministers, while Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said, on Thursday, that he may meet with Faisal al-Miqdad in early February, denying reports of a possible meeting next week.

On the implications of al-Assad's statements, which stipulated the Turkish occupation's exit from Syrian territory and the cessation of support for terrorism; To hold a meeting with Erdogan, the researcher and strategic analyst, Dr. Alaa Al-Asfari believes that "the statements of the Syrian president are very clear conditions for any rapprochement between Syria and Turkey, as there are two main conditions; first, the exit of the Turkish occupation from the Syrian territories, and the cessation of support for terrorism in all its forms in the northern regions of Syria." He added, "Moscow wants this consensus to happen, and Turkey also wants that, especially since the Turkish elections are very close."

Al-Asfari pointed out that "Syria is not concerned with the issue of the presidential elections in Turkey, and is not interested in whether Erdogan or the opposition succeed in obtaining votes in the presidential elections," explaining that "what is important here is that Syria has a good and integrated program on ending the Turkish presence, and ending Ankara's support for terrorist gangs." It extends in northwestern Syria, and the Idlib region, where there is Jabhat al-Nusra, which considers Turkey its main supporter, so I think that these two conditions are very important to end the file between Syria and Turkey.

Regarding the situation in North and East Syria, Al-Asfari pointed out that if an agreement takes place, "there will be a presence of the Syrian army along the Syrian-Turkish border, in order to prevent Turkey from exploiting any pretext regarding the presence of the Kurds," considering that "it is an internal Syrian matter and not Erdogan's business."

Al-Asfari demanded that there be "a clear agreement, so that the two presidents meet, so the Turks must take the initiative, if they have the good intention of achieving reconciliation and rapprochement with Damascus."

The Syrian writer and journalist, Samer Kheloui, believed that Assad's statements came after his meeting with the Russian envoy. He said, "It came with tacit Russian approval in order to raise the ceiling of demands before the start of the talks, as Kheloui considered.  Al-Assad declared that "he is not a decision-maker, but rather a follower of Russia, and he cannot refuse a request."

Regarding the Russian efforts to bring Erdogan and Assad closer together, Kheloui considered it "doomed to fail, for many reasons, including first, Assad classifies the (opposition) adopted by Turkey as terrorism, and if Assad allies with Erdogan, this means that the (opposition) forces will fight with Assad's forces, and this is not possible." For most factions, secondly, the American rejection of this rapprochement and the areas Erdogan wants to return to Assad are areas protected by the United States.

Thirdly, according to Kheloui, "there is a percentage of the Turkish people that will not accept this Assad-Erdogan rapprochement, just as the Kurds will not elect Erdogan's party, and almost a quarter of the Turkish people will not vote for Erdogan, just as the people of the regions and clans in which the SDF is present will fight any Assad-Erdogan attack for this and other reasons, this Erdogan-Assad alliance will not see the light.

T/ Satt.

ANHA