Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that his country would maintain its efforts to prevent Syria from becoming a haven for terrorist organizations and an arena for proxy wars.
His comments came during the opening of the Fourth Conference of Turkish Ambassadors Abroad, which was launched at the presidential headquarters in Ankara.
The minister noted that Türkiye would speed up the process of voluntary and safe return of Syrian refugees to their country, stressing that Ankara wanted to strengthen its relations with all countries in the region through a positive agenda.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly stressed that his country was working on a plan to return more than a million Syrian refugees to the areas that Turkish forces have cleared, in northern Syria, by building homes and facilities, with the help of civil organizations and support from Qatar.
Around 3.4 million Syrians are present in Türkiye under temporary protection. The Turkish authorities say that about 550,000 displaced Syrians have returned to the safe areas provided by Turkish forces in northern Syria.
Ankara seeks to normalize its relations with Damascus. However, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad insists on the withdrawal of Turkish forces before talking about any steps for normalization, while Türkiye says that its military presence in northern Syria guarantees the unity of the country.
In a related context, the Turkish army sent new military reinforcements to northwestern Syria.
Those included military and logistical materials, and more than 15 trucks carrying armored vehicles, which headed towards Turkish military points in the Jisr al-Shughur area in the western countryside of Idlib.
On Saturday, Russian warplanes launched air strikes on the outskirts of Idlib, killing at least 3 civilians and wounding 6 others.
