After more than a decade of rebuking Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now speaks of friendship and brotherhood with Damascus.
In recent days, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has replaced his aggressive and hostile statements against Syria in the past 12 years with a conciliatory tone. He, who for years publicly called for the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria, now emphasizes on mutual support and creating new, just and comprehensive agreements with Damascus.
In one of his latest statements, for example, Erdogan emphasized the importance of efforts for peacemaking in Syria on this Friday and asked all supporters of peace to back his call for peace in the war-torn Arab country.
“We want peace in Syria, and we expect everyone who stands for peace to support this historic call,” Erdogan told journalists on his return flight from Washington, DC, where he attended a NATO leaders’ summit this week. He then mentioned Turkiye’s peace efforts in Syria and said that “the United States and Iran should welcome these positive developments and support the process to end immense suffering.”
“A fair peace in Syria would benefit Turkiye (among neighboring countries) the most,” Erdogan said, adding: “The most important step in this process is to start a new era with Syria.”
The US has always supported the PKK with money and weapons, but Turkey believes that Russia, Iran and the forces supported by the Syrian government also support and protect this military group in Syria.
What are the reasons for Erdogan’s turn of policy towards Syria?
Four reasons have been proposed by experts to explain the change of Erdogan’s policy regarding Syria, which are as follows:
1- Some relate this incident to the upcoming elections in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) because they believe Turkey is afraid that PKK, which Ankara calls terrorists, can seek more domination over the controlled areas in the northern Syria through the elections.
2- Some others believe that the change of Turkey’s policies towards Syria is due to the change of international and regional balances in light of Israel’s aggression on Gaza and the possibility of the third world war.
3- Other experts consider the issue of Syrian refugees in Turkey and Erdogan’s determination to return them to their land in Syria to be involved in this change of politics by the Turkish president.
4- Others believe that Bashar al-Assad is fed up with Iran’s intervention in Syrian affairs and seeks to distance himself from the Islamic Republic as he has no desire to participate in a possible war that may occur between Israel and Iran. Erdogan plans to take advantage of this situation to get concessions from Syria by, for example, buying Asad’s agreement to let Ankara carry out military operations against the PKK in northern Syria with more freedom.
