Senior AKP official says level of dialogue between Türkiye, Syria may increase
Hayati Yazıcı (Photo: AA/File)
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After Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu revealed that he had a "quick word" with his counterpart from Syria last October, officials from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) and their allies Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) backed dialogue between Ankara and Damascus.
In a written statement yesterday (August 15), MHP Chair Devlet Bahçeli said, "The steps Türkiye has taken about Syria are valuable and accurate."
Bahçeli backed the minister's remarks about "establishing peace between the Assad regime and the opposition," saying that "no one should be offended by this."
"Türkiye's raising the level of talks with Syria to political dialogue level, and, within this framework, removing terrorist organizations from the places they are nested, are candidates to become a topic of the political agenda ahead, and worth being taken seriously," he said.
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Dialogue between Erdoğan and Assad
When asked about Bahçeli's statement a live broadcast on Haber Global late yesterday, AKP Deputy Chair Hayati Yazıcı said, "Relations with Damascus may become direct, their level may increase."
When asked whether there will be talks between the leaders, he said, "I'm not in a position to say 'It will never happen.' It will start from some point, and, hopefully, the level may increase."
He also thanked Bahçeli for his support.
"Look, there can be more than one way to solve problems. But the most important factor in international relations is the channel of dialogue. Either direct or indirect..." he said, adding that an increased dialogue between Ankara and Damascus may lead to the end of the 11-year-long war in Syria.
Çavuşoğlu's remarks
Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on August 12 revealed that he had a meeting with his Syrian counterpart in October during a Non-Aligned Movement summit in Belgrade in what was the highest-level contact between Ankara and Damascus in a decade.
"While I was chatting with other ministers, I had a quick word with the Syrian foreign minister as well," he said in an address to Türkiye's ambassadors in Ankara. "We must somehow make the opposition and the regime in Syria come to terms. Otherwise, there will be no lasting peace."
Çavuşoğlu's remarks triggered widespread protests in northwestern Syria, in the towns directly controlled by Türkiye and its allied groups, as well as the Idlib province, the jihadist stronghold where Türkiye also has a significant military presence.
In early this month, pro-government daily Türkiye reported that a Gulf country had been mediating between Ankara and Damascus, and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan may have a phone conversation with Syria's Bashar Assad as a result of those efforts. (SD/VK)