The foreign ministers of Russia, Syria, Turkey and Iran have met in Moscow for high-level talks on restoring relations between Ankara and Damascus after years of hostilities during the Syrian war.
Syria’s state news agency SANA quoted Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Moqdad as saying that despite all the bitterness of the past years, there is an opportunity for Damascus and Ankara to work together, but the Syrian government’s priority is all non-aligned countries, including Turkey. The presence of domestic troops was to be ended.
Syria’s northwest includes areas held by opposition groups, including Turkish-backed armed forces.
Russia’s foreign ministry said in a statement that there had been a “positive and constructive atmosphere” and that the countries’ deputy foreign ministers would be tasked with developing a roadmap for advancing Syria-Turkey relations.
In his opening speech, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed hope that the meeting would pave the way for the development of a road map for the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria.
On the other hand, Saudi King Salman invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to attend the Arab League Summit.
The Arab League meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia will be held in Jeddah on May 19. Bashar al-Assad has been invited to attend a meeting for the first time since 2011.
It should be noted that in 2011, after the civil war in Syria, its membership in the Arab League was terminated, while most Arab countries also terminated relations.
During the Arab League summit in Saudi Arabia, it was agreed to restore Syria’s membership, and in recent days, several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have made high-level visits to restore relations with Syria.
Comments
(function(d, s, id) {
var js, fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];
if (d.getElementById(id)) return;
js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id;
js.src = “//connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&appId=1763457670639747&version=v2.3”;
fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, fjs);
}(document, ‘script’, ‘facebook-jssdk’));