Tehran, Iran— Hectic efforts are underway for the restoration of ties between Syria and Turkey and also to pave way for a meeting between the Syrian and Turkish presidents.
According to the Special envoy of the Russian president in Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, intense work is underway to normalize relations between Syria and Turkey and to specify the date of the meeting between the presidents of the two countries.
Lavrentiev made the remarks in an interview with a media outlet in the Middle East.
According to the Russian envoy, there are difficulties relating to the normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, including the Turkish military presence in the Syrian territories.
As for the reopening of international roads, Putin’s special envoy said that the work is continuing, and that the commitments that Turkey has undertaken, namely to remove the armed factions at a distance of 6 kilometers from the M4 highway continue.
Lavrentiev then underlined that some difficulties are related to the relationship between Turkey and the groups that control those areas, and this work is quite difficult.
Consultations between the defense ministers of Russia, Syria and Turkey took place in Moscow on December 28, 2022, as part of efforts to normalize relations between Ankara and Damascus.
The meeting’s participants reached an agreement to create a trilateral commission.
A meeting between top diplomats is expected to follow the consultations to discuss the possibility of talks between Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and Bashar Assad of Syria.
