ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran on Wednesday said it is hopeful that Turkey and Syria can agree on a “political solution” during the quadrilateral foreign ministers meeting in Moscow featuring Russia and Iran.
The meeting on Wednesday will mark the first official meeting between foreign ministers of Syria and Turkey since the start of the Syrian civil war more than a decade ago, during which Ankara severed ties with Damascus and supported the rebellion against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, occupying swathes of the country’s north.
As a prerequisite to an agreement, Damascus demands that Ankara withdraws all military forces from the north of the country - a demand reiterated on Wednesday by Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad.
Iran has previously stated that it understands Turkey’s “security issues” in Syria but does not believe they warrant a Turkish military presence in the country.
“Last year, very difficult conditions were created in the region, and the possibility of a military conflict in the border areas became stronger on the part of Turkey,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said ahead of the meeting in Moscow. “A lot of diplomatic efforts were made to prevent a new war and conflict between Turkey and Syria.”
Abdollahian further expressed hope that the meeting will bring Ankara and Damascus closer to agreeing on a political solution.
Russia, a key backer of Assad’s regime, is heavily involved in the potential restoration of ties between Syria and Turkey. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said during a press briefing on Wednesday that Ankara must withdraw all forces from Syria for an agreement to take place.
“There needs to be a guarantee of Syrian control over all Syrian sovereign lands,” Lavrov said.
The talks between Syria and Turkey to restore ties aimed at an eventual summit between Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are being mediated by Russia and Iran.
However, Syria has refused the summit until Turkey withdraws all its military forces.
Turkey justifies its military presence in Syria on the grounds of its desire to repatriate around four million Syrians who have found refuge in Turkey since the onset of the civil war. It also claims to be in the country to fight Kurdish forces of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) - a US-backed force that is viewed as the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) by Ankara.
The PKK is a Kurdish group waging an armed insurgency against the Turkish state in its fight for greater Kurdish political and cultural rights and alongside its alleged proxies, is designated as a terrorist organization by Ankara.
After the YPG proved an effective force and seized northern Syrian lands from the grasps of the Islamic State (ISIS), Turkey grew wary of their presence along its southern border, sending troops as well as supporting armed groups and hardline jihadists to eliminate Kurdish forces from the area.
