STORY: Turkish-Syrian reconciliation requires time: expert
DATELINE: June 17, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:37
LOCATION: Ankara
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
2. various of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad
3. various of the four-way meeting between Syria, Turkey, Iran and Russia held in May 2023 in Moscow
4. various of Syrian refugees
5. SOUNDBITE (English): SELCUK COLAKOGLU, Director of Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies

STORYLINE:

Türkiye and Syria have engaged in diplomatic efforts to repair their broken relations, but reconciliation requires time and patience as long as Turkish troops are present in northern Syria, an expert has said.

SOUNDBITE (English): SELCUK COLAKOGLU, Director of Ankara-based Turkish Center for Asia-Pacific Studies
"Ankara has the policy to normalize its relations with Damascus in recent months, the process is in progress. Recently, Turkish and Syrian defense ministers met in Moscow with the mediation of the Russian side. In this regard, there are some contacts. The Syrian government has a precondition from Ankara to withdraw its Turkish forces from Northern Syria, but this is very unlikely to happen soon. Normalization is on the agenda, particularly after the general elections in Türkiye. The new Turkish government wants to normalize its relations with Syria together with also Egypt. But the Turkish-Syrian normalization process takes time maybe months or years, but there is also increasing hope in this regard. The Turkish government also wants to send some Syrian refugees back to Syria because Türkiye is now hosting around 4 million Syrian refugees in Türkiye, and together with 1 million other refugees and migrants, Türkiye has more than 5 million migrants or refugees in the country. So, in times of economic hardships, the Turkish public increasingly demands the Turkish government to send back some (refugees) to Syrian government and to their countries. This is Türkiye's priority, at least for now."

Turkish and Syrian ministers and high officials have met several times in Moscow since last year, as Russia is playing a mediator role in normalization efforts.

Ankara believes that establishing ties with Damascus is key, given Türkiye's military presence in north Syria and President al-Assad's need for a trade route.

Erdogan aims to reach a deal that would facilitate the return of refugees. Since the start of the Syrian civil war over a decade ago, some 3.7 million Syrians have found refuge in Türkiye.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara.
(XHTV)