Turkey plans to discuss the joint military operation east of the Euphrates with the Syrian leadership at a meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia, Syria and Iran, scheduled for May, Aydinlik reported on Monday.
According to the newspaper, counterterrorism is the most important issue on Ankara's agenda. Ankara wants the terrorist groups in northern Syria, near the Turkish border, to be completely neutralized. These are Kurdish organizations that Turkey recognizes as Syrian offshoots of the Kurdistan Workers' Party and terrorists. Aydinlik notes that Ankara proposes to conduct an operation against them jointly with Damascus, and the Syrian authorities are not against such an option. However, the Arab country's leadership wants guarantees of the subsequent withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syrian territory.
For Russia and Iran, the newspaper writes, in the context of counterterrorism, it is important to solve the problem of Idlib in order to ensure their security in the region. In Idlib, with the de-escalation zone in place, the situation remains tense, and there is no full control over what is happening on the ground. A settlement in Idlib would also help remove the US from the region, which is important for all participants in the four-party mechanism on Syria. Normalizing relations between Ankara and Damascus could make a serious contribution to this.
It is expected that at the meeting of the foreign ministers scheduled for the beginning of May the issues of combating terrorism and elaboration of the relevant road map will be actively discussed. Ankara also wants to discuss the revival of the Syrian political process at various meetings, such as the Geneva meeting and the Astana summit, the daily wrote. It wants to achieve progress in refugee return and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Earlier, Iranian ambassador to Moscow Kazem Jalali told TASS that Moscow had already proposed a specific date for the meeting of Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey foreign ministers and it is now under consideration. The diplomat confirmed that the meeting could take place soon. The prospect of such talks was discussed at the consultations of the deputy foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Syria and Turkey in Moscow on April 3-4. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said last week that the meeting could take place in early May.
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Based on materials from TASS