Positive signal; Has the ice between Damascus and Ankara melted?
In the last 4 years, despite the reduction of tensions between most governments in the region, the normalization of Ankara-Damascus relations has not reached its final destination as a complex puzzle. The existence of challenges such as Turkey’s support for armed opposition, the violation of Syria’s territorial integrity under the pretext of fighting terrorism, the Syrian refugee crisis, the non-acceptance of Security Council Resolution 2254 and finally the US Treasury Department’s Caesar sanctions have caused the two countries to have serious doubts in the form of negotiations. Moscow has come forward and taken steps to resume relations.
Turkey’s 2023 elections and the demand of public opinion in this country to improve relations with Damascus and solve the issue of refugees caused the two sides to take serious steps in the form of political-security negotiations, but the combination of the above factors caused these efforts to fail so far. Now, after almost a year has passed, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Assad are sending “positive pulses” and talking about their desire to resume relations and even meet each other bilaterally. In the continuation of this analytical report, we will try to analyze the most important obstacles facing the two countries to normalize relations.