ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Baghdad is in the process of arranging bilateral meetings between Damascus and Ankara as the two sides eye a potential rapprochement, an advisor to the Iraqi prime minister said on Tuesday.
“Baghdad is currently working on arranging the bilateral meetings between Turkey and Syria,” Fadi al-Shammari, political advisor to Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani, told Rudaw, labeling Iraq’s role as “important” in resolving the conflict between Turkey and Syria.
Shammari said that Baghdad wastes no chance to work as a mediator between regional countries, and that a rapprochement between Syria and Turkey is in “direct” interest of Iraq.
“Baghdad benefits from playing the role of mediator in several aspects, including enhancing regional stability which reflects positively on the security and economic situation in Iraq,” he said.
Among the agendas of the Iraqi government are “securing borders, economic cooperation, reducing the influence of armed groups in the region, facilitating the return of Syrian refugees, and cooperation in combating terrorist organizations,” according to Shammari.
When the war erupted in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey, slammed Bashar al-Assad for committing violence against his own people. Erdogan demanded the removal of the Syrian president from power and labeled him a “terrorist.”
Turkey supported anti-Assad rebels in the early years of the civil war, especially in northwest Syria. However, when Russia intervened and President Vladimir Putin threw his support behind Assad, Erdogan began opposing the growing Kurdish dominance in northern Syria.
Erdogan said on Friday that he might invite his long-time foe, Assad, to Turkey.
Erdogan said in June there is no reason not to normalize relations with Assad. This remark came days after the Syrian president told a top Russian delegation of his “openness to all initiatives related to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, which are based on the sovereignty of the Syrian state over its entire territory,” according to a statement from his office released at the time.
Assad had previously preconditioned any potential rapprochement with the full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria.
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