Turkey and Syria agreed in Moscow on the next step

Turkey’s foreign ministers, Mevlüt Cavusoglu, and Syria’s Faisal Meghdad agreed Wednesday in Moscow on the next step toward normalizing relations between the two countries, which have been fractured since 2011.

At the end of a high-level meeting in the Russian capital, Turkish diplomatic chiefs Mevlut Cavusoglu and Syria’s Faisal Meghdad and their Russian counterparts, Sergey Lavrov and Iran’s Hossein Amir-Abdullahian decided to advise. Their representatives will “coordinate with the defense ministries and special services of the four countries to prepare a blueprint for improving relations between Turkey and Syria,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a press release.

Participants in the first Quartet meeting at the level of Foreign Ministers of Turkey and Syria since the breakdown of relations in 2011 also welcomed the depth and openness that marked the exchanges between Ankara and Damascus on issues related to the normalization of relations. to the same source.

Also read: Moscow backs road map for normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria

Speaking at the beginning of this meeting, Mr. Lavrov said he was in favor of drawing up a blueprint for normalizing relations between Turkey and Syria.

“The best outcome of our meeting today will be an agreement to appoint experts to prepare a roadmap for the normalization of relations between Syria and Turkey,” he said.

In his opinion, the document should make it possible to “clearly define the positions of the stakeholders – Syria and Turkey – on their priority issues,” including the security of the 950-kilometer common border with Turkey.

Since the beginning of last year, Ankara has started to show signs of rapprochement with Syria. In this context, several meetings were held between the intelligence chiefs, defense ministers and deputy foreign ministers of the two countries.

With MAP