The Turkish Foreign Ministry has clarified that there are no direct negotiations or progress in the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria, as stated by Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Onju Keceli during a briefing in Ankara.
"Regarding the foreign ministry's responsibilities, we have no negotiations with the Syrian regime. Our stance on normalization has been transparent from the outset, and we have no preconditions. However, we do have certain expectations regarding the outcome of this process, including a political settlement, the return of refugees, and the future of Syria. The regime, on the other hand, has been setting preconditions," Keceli explained.
He further noted that the Turkish side had previously expected the "Syrian regime to initiate dialogue with Turkey independently." "However, there has been no recent progress in this regard. In general, there has been no development in the last 3–4 weeks," Keceli stated.
The Russian Presidential Special Representative for the Syrian settlement, Alexander Lavrentiev, told TASS on January 29 that the normalization process between Syria and Turkey has been stalled since last autumn. Lavrentiev attributed this stagnation primarily to "the Syrian side's demand for assurances from Turkey regarding the withdrawal of the military contingent currently on Syrian territory."
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Based on materials from TASS