Syrian and Turkish defence ministers meet in Moscow

Syrian and Turkish defence ministers attended an unannounced meeting in Moscow on Wednesday with the aim of restoring relations severed 11 years ago after Turkish intervention in Syria’s civil and proxy wars.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu brought together his Turkish and Syrian counterparts, Hulusi Akar and Ali Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss “ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, the problem of [Syrian] refugees, and joint efforts to combat extremist groups in Syria”, the Russian defence ministry stated. The sides committed to continuing the trilateral dialogue to stabilise the situation in Syria and the region. The next step could be a foreign ministers’ meeting.

Turkish and Syrian intelligence chiefs Hakan Fidan and Ali Mamlouk, who have maintained contact, also participated in the meeting.

The Moscow dialogue, dubbed “positive” by all sides, appeared to have put on hold Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s threat to mount a major military offensive against US-supported Syrian-Kurdish forces which are occupying about 25 per cent of north-eastern Syria.

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While Mr Erdogan claims Syrian Kurds are allied to Turkey’s insurgent Kurds, Washington has warned Ankara that a Turkish attack would undermine joint US-Kurdish operations against Islamic State (also known as Isis) fighters operating in eastern Syria.

Restoring ties between Ankara and Damascus could benefit both countries.

Syria could gain wider regional acceptance. It was isolated until the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait resumed diplomatic relations in 2018.

Turkey could receive assurances that a substantial number of the 3.5 million Syrian refugees living in Turkey could safely return home. Mr Erdogan is eager to repatriate Syrians, who have become highly unpopular in Turkey.

Early this month Mr Erdogan said he had asked Syria’s ally, Russian president Vladimir Putin, to initiate talks which would culminate in a summit with Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Mr Assad has, however, refused to meet Mr Erdogan as long as Turkish forces occupy Syrian soil and has argued that a well-publicised encounter would give the Turkish leader a boost in June’s presidential election.

Mr Assad has resisted Moscow’s pressure to end the estrangement, despite Russia’s critical support during the war.

After Arab Spring protests erupted in Syria in March 2011, Mr Erdogan formed the Free Syrian Army by recruiting dissident Syrian army personnel. He also established the expatriate Muslim Brotherhood-dominated Syrian National Council with the aim of overthrowing Mr Assad. While Syrian troops – backed by Russian air power and Iranian ground forces – have retaken 70 per cent of Syria’s territory, Turkey continues to support Mr Assad’s opponents. Turkey fields surrogate Syrian militias which occupy 1,000 towns and villages in northern Syria, and collaborates with al-Qaeda’s offshoot Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham which controls Syria’s north-western Idlib province.