Türkiey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the presence of Turkish forces in Syria is only to fight terrorism that threatens his country’s borders and security, adding that Ankara could open a door for cooperation with Russia to fight terrorism.
Erdogan also said his country has prepared some projects related to housing construction in Syria for the return of nearly 1 million refugees to their homeland.
When asked about Assad's demand that Türkiye withdraw its military forces from Syria as a condition for normalizing ties: “We have more than 900 kilometers of common border and there is a constant terror threat from those borders on our country. The only reason we have a military presence on the border is to fight terrorism. That's the sole reason.”
“Through my friendship with President Putin, we thought we could open a door, specifically in our fight against terrorism in the northern part of Syria,” Erdogan added.
“If we can do that, I said I see no obstacle that would remain in the way of our reconciliation,” he added.
Russia is sponsoring talks aimed at normalization of ties between Ankara and Damascus, in the presence of Iran. The meetings are held at the level of defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Russia, Iran, Türkiye, and Syria.
In a meeting on May 10 in Moscow, the foreign ministers of Syria and Türkiye agreed to set up a “roadmap” to improve strained ties, following talks alongside Russia and Iran.
They stressed the need for cooperation in the fight against terrorism and working together to establish the basis for the return of Syrian refugees.
On the eve of the Moscow meeting, Türkiye renewed its rejection of Damascus' demands to withdraw from northern Syria, stressing the inability of President Bashar Assad to protect the borders at present, and that this issue should be postponed until Syria reaches a political solution and install stability in the country.
On May 10, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that an agreement was reached to create a coordination center in Syria to fight terrorism.
“Our Syrian interlocutors were told that we must get rid of terrorists. Therefore, we discussed the necessity of working jointly and agreed on setting up a coordination center on Syrian soil,” he said.
Tackling the Syrian refugee's file, Erdogan has dismissed opposition calls for comprehensive deportation of refugees and has said that he will instead “encourage” around a million refugees to return to Syria.
He said Türkiye was building infrastructure and homes in Turkish-controlled parts of the war-torn country to facilitate their repatriation.
“Turkish NGOs are building residential units in northern Syria so that refugees here can go back to their homeland. This process has already started,” he told CNN. “We are encouraging one million refugees to go back to their homeland.”
