Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that he was in favor of drawing up a roadmap for the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria, which have been broken since 2011.
“The best outcome of our meeting today would be an agreement to appoint experts to prepare a roadmap for the normalization of relations between Syria and Turkey,” he said at the opening. of a ministerial meeting between the heads of Turkish, Syrian, Russian and Iranian diplomacy.
This roadmap would then be presented to the “leaders of our countries”, he added, noting that the document should “clearly define the positions of the stakeholders – Syria and Turkey – on their priority issues”, including the security of the 950 kilometer common border with Turkey.
Pleading for the resumption, “without any barrier” of economic and commercial relations between the two countries, Mr. Lavrov called for the opening of discussions on the restoration of logistical and transport links between the two countries.
“We all have an interest in seeing relations between Syria and Turkey resume on the basis of equality and respect,” he said during this meeting, the first at the level of Ministers of Foreign Affairs. from Turkey and Syria, since 2011.
In Lavrov’s view, the parties at the Moscow meeting should also focus on the return of refugees and internally displaced persons from Syria.
“For us, for all the countries present here, facilitating the voluntary and safe return of refugees and displaced persons to their permanent place of residence in Syria (…) is one of the key principles,” noted the Russian minister. AEs.
Since the beginning of last year, Ankara has started to show signs of rapprochement with Syria. In this context, several meetings were held between the heads of the intelligence services, the defense ministers and the deputy foreign ministers of the two countries.
With MAP
