“I would like to emphasize this point. We are not changing our stance regarding the Syrian opposition. The free will of the Syrian opposition is essential ... There is no question of us abandoning them halfway,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said during a joint press conference with Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan in Istanbul.
“These brothers of ours are currently preventing more refugees from coming to Turkey in the areas they control,” the Turkish FM added.
Earlier this month, Syrians in the rebel-held areas protested against anti-Syrian rhetoric and violence in Turkey, as well as the calls for normalization with President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. At least eight people were killed in the clashes, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) war monitor.
Fidan’s remarks come amid efforts for rapprochement between Ankara and the Syrian government in Damascus. Earlier this month, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he might invite his Syrian counterpart to Ankara.
Fidan said Erdogan’s effort to normalize the ties between the two countries should be reciprocated.
“Our President used his leadership here to call for peace. This is not a position of weakness. This call is an important one. We recommend that it be reciprocated,” he said.
Syria on the other hand, has conditioned the normalization of ties on the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syrian territories.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement on Saturday that normalization between Damascus and Ankara "must be built on clear foundations that ensure the desired results... foremost of which is the withdrawal of illegally present forces from the Syrian territory and the fight against terrorist groups that threaten not only Syria's security, but also the security of Turkey.”
Through the conflict in Syria, Turkey has supported rebel forces, including those with links to al-Qaeda and other extremist groups. Turkey has also launched repeated incursions into Syrian territory, most notably against Kurds in Afrin in 2018.
Syrians rose against the Assad regime in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, has left millions more in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and left much of the country’s infrastructure in ruins.
