Syrian rebels stunned as Turkey signals normalisation of Damascus relations
Source: The Guardian
More than five years into Syrias civil war, Turkey, the country that has most helped the rebellion against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, has hinted it may move to normalise relations with Damascus.
The suggestion made by the Turkish prime minister, Binali Yıldırım, on Wednesday, stunned the Syrian opposition leadership, which Ankara hosts, as well as regional leaders, who had allied with Turkey in their push to oust Assad over a long, unforgiving war.
I am sure that we will return [our] ties with Syria to normal, he said, straying far from an official script that has persistently called for immediate regime change. We need it. We normalised our relations with Israel and Russia. Im sure we will go back to normal relations with Syria as well.
Though Turkish officials later claimed the remarks were made in hope, and did not imply a policy shift, both the Ankara-backed rebels and regional diplomats inferred that Turkey was softening its rhetoric in advance of a reset with Assad, whose allies have backed him into a winning position in the war.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/13/turkey-pm-greatest-goal-is-to-improve-relations-with-syria-and-iraq
Kareem Shaheen and Martin Chulov in Beirut
Wednesday 13 July 2016 18.40 BST
Bernardo de La Paz
(48,786 posts)uawchild
(2,208 posts)Erdogan has finally realized that by getting rid of Assad in Syria, he was inadvertently helping the Kurds establish an independent Kurdistan on his borders. Considering the Kurdish majority in the southeast of Turkey, Erdogan finds that possibility very disturbing.
maxsolomon
(32,981 posts)ISIL is the bigger threat, and to root ISIL out, everyone needs to be on the same team.
the losers are the not-ISIL Sunnis.
who'll probably join ISIL now.