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Iran ready to help promote Syria-Turkey reconciliation talks: FM Amir-Abdollahian

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian (L) meets with Syrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Mekdad in Moscow on May 10, 2023.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has welcomed the political process aimed to settle the Syria-Turkey conflict, saying Tehran is ready to help promote the negotiations between the two sides in this regard.

Amir-Abdollahian, who is in Moscow to attend a quadrilateral meeting with his Syrian, Turkish and Russian counterparts, made the remarks in a meeting with Syrian foreign minister Faisal Mekdad on Wednesday.

The Islamic Republic is ready to help consolidate and promote the diplomatic efforts aimed at normalizing relations between Turkey and Syria, he said.

He added that the meeting between the four foreign ministers in Moscow would advance the settlement of issues pertaining to Syria through political approaches.

Turkey severed its relations with Syria in March 2012, a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of rampant and deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants, including those supported by Ankara.

The two neighboring countries are currently taking steps toward reconciliation after 11 years.

In the last bid to mend ties between Ankara and Damascus, defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Russia, Syria, Turkey, and Iran met in Moscow late last month and discussed the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria.

The process of normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus kicked off on December 28, 2022, when the Russian, Syrian and Turkish defense ministers met in Moscow, in what was the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the outbreak of the Syrian conflict.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said in January that a rapprochement with Turkey would depend on Turkey ending its occupation of northern Syria and its support for militant groups fighting against the Damascus government.

Elsewhere in the meeting, Amir-Abdollahian extended his congratulations to Mekdad over the readmission of Syria to the Arab League, more than a decade after it was suspended over the Syrian conflict.

The Syrian foreign minister, for his part, stressed the importance of solving the issues between Damascus and Ankara through political ways.

Syria believes that the Turkish forces’ presence in the Syrian territories is the most important obstacle in the way of normalizing bilateral relations and finding a solution to other topics in this regard, Mekdad added.

The Iranian, Turkish, Syrian and Russian foreign ministers opened their meeting in Moscow on Wednesday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov addressed the opening ceremony.

Speaking to IRNA upon his arrival in Moscow, Amir-Abdollahian expressed hopes that Syria and Turkey would reach a political solution on re-establishing their diplomatic ties and withdrawal of foreign forces from northern Syria.

“We hope that the four-sided Moscow meeting would send a strong message on Syria and Turkey’s focus on a political solution, withdrawal of military forces, and expulsion of occupation forces such as the United States from northern Syria,” he said.

He added that the region faced a “very difficult” situation last year due to the possibility of Turkey’s invasion of Syria’s border areas, adding, “A lot of diplomatic efforts have been made to prevent a new war and conflict in the region and along with Turkey-Syria joint border.”

He also expressed hope that the Moscow meeting would pave the way for Syrian refugees to return to their homeland as soon as possible.

‘Syrian government, nation part of region’s reality’

In a Wednesday post on his Twitter account, Amir-Abdollahian highlighted the importance of Iran’s dynamic diplomacy, saying, “The Syrian government and nation are a part of the region’s reality.”

“The initiative in the dynamic and multifaceted diplomacy of the Islamic Republic of #Iran can draw the perspective of the end of the basic challenges for the entire region by completing the process of convergence,” Amir-Abdollahian tweeted.

Iran has repeatedly expressed its readiness to play a constructive role in promoting reconciliation talks between Turkey and Syria.


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