DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Syria’s foreign minister said Tuesday that any dialogue between Syria and Turkey must follow Ankara’s announcement that the country will withdraw. his troops from all over Syria areas it controls.
Faisal Mekdad’s comments during a joint press conference with Iran’s acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani came after Turkey threatened in recent days to act against Kurdish-led authorities in northeastern Syria as they prepare to hold municipal elections next week.
Turkey has launched three major cross-border operations in Syria since 2016 and controls some areas in the north. Ankara has been a key backer of Syrian opposition fighters who have been trying to remove Syrian President Bashar Assad from power since the conflict began in March 2011.
Efforts to achieve reconciliation between Syria and Turkey have not made any progress since early 2023 despite meetings in Moscow between the countries’ foreign ministers and defense ministers.
“The most important condition for any Syrian-Turkish dialogue is that Ankara announces its willingness to withdraw from our countries it occupies,” Mekdad said. “We do not negotiate with those who occupy our country.”
said Bagheri Kani Tehran has always supported this territorial integrity of all regional countries, especially Syria. “We have supported and will continue to support Syria in its fight against terrorism,” he said, referring to Syrian rebel groups that Damascus and Tehran consider terrorist organizations.
Iran and Russia, Assad’s main backers who took part in the conflict in Syria that has killed half a million people, have tried to mediate between Turkey and Syria in the past. Over the years, with their help, Syrian government forces have taken control of most parts of Syria.
Regarding Turkey’s support for Syrian rebels in the north, Mekdad said: “It is not allowed for the Turkish occupation of Syrian lands to continue supporting terrorist organizations in northern Syria.”
Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Ankara said it would not hesitate to act against Kurdish-led groups in northern Syria, which it accuses of links to banned Kurdish militants, if it goes ahead with plans to hold local elections in the region on June 11.
Syrian pro-government media said Bagheri Kani met with leaders of Syria-based Palestinian factions at the Iranian embassy in Damascus earlier Tuesday. They did not provide any further details.
In Lebanon, Hezbollah announced that its leader Hassan Nasrallah had met with Bagheri Kani and discussed the volatile situation in Gaza and along the Lebanon-Israel border. Bagheri Kani was in Lebanon before leaving for Syria.
Bagheri Kani told reporters he was in Syria to discuss “an immediate end to the Zionists’ crimes in (the southern city of) Rafah and the delivery of urgent, immediate and unconditional aid to the oppressed residents of Gaza.”