While President Erdoğan continues to send warm messages to the Assad regime in Syria, there has been a significant announcement from Iraq, which has been acting as a mediator for some time.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein has announced that an agreement has been reached to hold a meeting between Turkey and Syria in Baghdad. Speaking to journalists in Washington, the Iraqi minister said, “The relations between Turkey and Syria are complex, but there are still contacts between the two countries through Iraq. Iraq has an initiative to bring the two sides together in Baghdad. Contacts continue at the leadership level between Iraq, Turkey, and Syria.”
Hussein reminded that the Russians were also conducting mediation talks and stated that a preliminary agreement had been reached to hold the meeting in Baghdad during his discussions with his Turkish and Syrian counterparts. The Iraqi Foreign Minister also mentioned that the date of the meeting would be determined once he returned from Washington.
An advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ Al Sudani emphasized that they were making every effort to ensure normalization talks between Turkey and Syria took place, noting that the rapprochement of the two countries was also in Iraq’s interest.
ERDOĞAN: “I GAVE THE INSTRUCTIONS”
President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a statement to journalists on the plane returning from the NATO summit yesterday, had continued his remarks about rapprochement with the Bashar Assad regime in Syria, saying:
“I have assigned the task to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. My Foreign Minister, in consultation with his counterparts, will determine the entire roadmap. Accordingly, we will take steps, God willing. We believe that a just peace in Syria is possible. We constantly express that Syria’s territorial integrity is also in our interest. A fair peace to be built in Syria will benefit us the most. We say that the most crucial step of this construction process is to start a new period with Syria. So far, this process has developed positively. I hope we will take concrete steps in the near future.”
