Russia reveals reality of Turkish presence in Syria

Recep Tayyip Erdogan constantly repeats that he is ready to meet Bashar al-Assad, while Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov discussed a number of bilateral and regional issues, most notably the Syrian crisis and the efforts led by Russia to "normalize" relations between the occupying Turkish state and the Damascus government.

 Turkish Foreign Ministry sources said that Fidan and Lavrov discussed, in a phone call on Wednesday night, relations between Turkey and Russia and regional issues, most notably the developments in Syria and "normalization" efforts, and the outcome of the 22nd round of the "Astana meetings", which was held last Monday and Tuesday in the Kazakh capital, in addition to developments in the Middle East and the Russian-Ukrainian war.

 The Russian envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev considered that it is too early to "expect communication at a higher level, as was the case about 18 months ago, when meetings were organized between the defense and foreign ministers and the heads of the intelligence services in the four countries."

"It is related to Turkey's support for the Syrian opposition, and the main issue is the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria," Lavrentiev said.

 " The Turks are acting as an occupying state, and it is very difficult for Damascus to enter into a dialogue without certain Turkish guarantees about its withdrawal from Syria."

 On Wednesday, Lavrentiev said that Russia, Iran and Turkey had not discussed the possibility of inviting Bashar al-Assad to the Astana summit in Russia in 2025.

a.k

ANHA