Conditions ripe for Turkey-Syria reconciliation
By Seyyed Reza Sadrolhosseini
Regional affairs expert
The trilateral meeting of foreign ministers from Iran, Turkey, and Russia in Moscow aimed at resolving the Syrian-Turkish conflict is a significant development in West Asia. The objective is to provide regional security and prevent the presence of transregional countries.
Several positive developments pertaining to the meeting have recently unfolded in the region including the Riyadh-Tehran rapprochement, the normalization of ties between Saudi Arabia and Syria, the return of Syria to the Arab League, the four-way meeting in Moscow, and the concern and anger of the US and Israel over these events.
These developments have surprised many important global analysts, especially since the speed with which they occurred was such that many global media outlets are lagging behind in their coverage and analysis.
In particular, addressing the situation of Syria is progressing at a faster pace than it did the past five years owing to the ongoing Moscow meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey, Iran, Syria, and Russia. However, the meeting is a continuation of the previous meetings known as “Astana,” which were brokered by Iran and Russia.
These positive developments indicate the prospects for the future of the West Asian region. The revival of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia was the beginning, and if the efforts to normalize relations between Turkey and Syria are to succeed, security-building processes based on strengthening regional cooperation would be completed.
These conditions will have positive economic, political, and cultural impacts on all countries in the region and will speed up the progress and development of the region.
The available evidence indicates that one can be optimistic about the Moscow quadrilateral meeting to resolve the Ankara-Damascus disputes. Both countries need to resolve their differences, resume relations, and cooperate to fight against the re-emergence of terrorist movements in the region.
It seems that the grounds for the reconciliation of Ankara and Damascus are prepared. Of course, Syria has reasonable conditions for normalizing its relations with Turkey. So, Ankara decides the success of the negotiations.
In the midst of these recent developments in the region, we are once again witnessing the positive and outstanding role that the Islamic Republic of Iran has played. Once again, Tehran has announced its readiness to solve regional and even transregional problems such as the war between Ukraine and Russia. That is because Tehran has always sought regional stability. By now, Iran’s honesty must have been revealed to everyone, especially the countries of the region.