Erdoğan and Assad may meet in Uzbekistan – Shahan Gantaharian’s comment
21:18,
YEREVAN, AUGUST 22, ARMENPRESS. After many years of conflict, the Turkish-Syrian relations, which have been going through historical upheavals, show signs of normalization again. Talking to ARMENPRESS about this topic, the editor-in-chief of the Lebanese "Aztag" Armenian daily, political analyst Shahan Gantaharian stressed that all the prerequisites for the rapprochement of Turkey and Syria should be considered in the framework of Russia-Turkey strategic cooperation.
Turkish, Arabic, and Iranian media are writing these days that the President of the Republic of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and the President of the Syrian Arab Republic, Bashar Al-Assad, may meet for the first time in 10 years in Uzbekistan, at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will be held on September 15-16 in Samarkand.
The editor-in-chief of "Aztag" presented his point of view on this information, saying that there have been talks about the possibility of Ankara-Damascus rapprochement or re-establishment of relations for some time, and it is noticeable that Ankara's official representatives are more active about this than Syria's.
"Reconciliation initiatives of the Syrian opposition and Syrian President Bashar Assad under the mediation of Turkey are also on the agenda. Çavuşoğlu (Turkey's Foreign Minister-ed.) announced that the security services of the two countries are already talking and are holding joint discussions on common issues. It is clear that security issues refer to the first problem for Ankara, the Kurdish factor," the analyst noted.
Shahan Gantaharian draws attention to the statement of the President of Turkey that his country is in favor of maintaining the territorial integrity of Syria and has no intention of ousting Assad.
“I believe that all these preconditions for rapprochement should be considered in the sidelines of Moscow-Ankara strategic cooperation. It should not be forgotten that Damascus coordinates such actions, steps and breakthrough positions with Moscow. Let's add that until now Ankara has not managed to form the geography of the security zone that it proposed from the first stage of the Syrian war. And Turkey did not have the permission not only of the West, but also of Moscow," emphasized Shahan Gantaharyan.