STORY: Normalization of Türkiye-Syria ties in limbo, says expert
DATELINE: Sept. 2, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:30
LOCATION: Ankara
CATEGORY: POLITICS

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a patrol of Turkish and Russian troops in Northern Syria
2. various of the four-way meeting of Türkiye-Syria-Russia-Iran in May 2023 in Moscow
3. various of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
4. various of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad
5. various of Turkish Lira
6. various of the militants of YPG in Northern Syria
7. various of Syrian refugees at one of the Türkiye-Syria border gates
8. SOUNDBITE (Turkish): SERKAN DEMIRTAS, Foreign policy analyst, Ankara Bureau Chief Of Hurriyet Daily News

STORYLINE:

The future of relations between Türkiye and Syria remains uncertain as little progress has been made in normalization talks revolving around Turkish military presence in northern Syria, said experts.

Since the end of 2022, Turkish and Syrian officials have met several times to restore ties.

Moscow has tried to mediate talks between Damascus and Ankara, whose ties have soured since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

However, the talks have borne little fruit, with disputes mostly hinging on Türkiye's military presence in northern Syria.

Serkan Demirtas, an Ankara-based foreign policy analyst, said in an interview with Xinhua that Russia may retake the initiative to unblock the current impasse.

SOUNDBITE (Turkish): SERKAN DEMIRTAS, Foreign policy analyst, Ankara Bureau Chief Of Hurriyet Daily News
"Türkiye is facing a major security problem from the north of Syria. For this reason, no one expected the normalization of Turkey and Syria in such a large picture to happen as quickly as it did with other countries.
Syria demands that Turkish forces evacuate from the northern parts of the country. Türkiye underlined that there would be no such withdrawal. Therefore, the perspectives of Türkiye and Syria are very different here. There are many different and divergent issues in this situation and there is no sign that these differences will disappear shortly. There were talks held in May. Then the elections in Türkiye were completed. After the completion of the elections in Türkiye, there is not much activity between the two countries.
There seems to be an impasse now. The Russians who launched this process can take the initiative again. Maybe this process can gain new momentum if Moscow starts to lead the dialogue in a way that the Assad regime understands Ankara's concerns."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara.
(XHTV)