Lebanese newspaper: Russia will seek to persuade Turkey to negotiate with the Assad regime during the upcoming Sochi summit
The Lebanese newspaper, Al-Modon, said in a report that Turkish sources suggested that Russia would pressure Turkey during the summit that will bring together the Turkish and Russian presidents in the Russian city of Sochi at the end of this month, to persuade it to sit with the Assad regime.
The report added that Russia is taking advantage of the increasing Turkish sensitivity regarding the Syrian refugee file, and the pressure from some opposition parties and segments of the people on the ruling party as a result of the consequences of that file, and that Russia will rely on Turkey’s direction to improve its tense relations with some countries in the region (UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt). ) to push it to soften its positions on the Assad regime and pressure to sit with it at the negotiating table at the end.
For his part, the political writer and member of the Turkish Justice and Development Party, Yusuf Kateboglu, said: “It is unlikely that relations with the Assad regime will be restored in the foreseeable future. Turkey considers Assad regime responsible for many crimes against the Syrian people, and it is not possible to restore relations with him.”
He added that Russia has sought a lot to push Turkey to open a dialogue with the Assad regime, but the Turkish state has so far not shown any desire in this context.
He pointed out that coordination with the Assad regime is limited to the intelligence side.
For his part, the Turkish writer Burhanuddin Duran, in his article in the Turkish newspaper “Sabah”, specified the conditions that his country wants from the Assad regime to normalize relations with it, saying: “The Turkish conditions are that the Assad regime is ready to return refugees to their country, and to participate in A real political process, and to stop its bombing of Idlib.”
He added, “The normalization of relations between Turkey and the Assad regime may destroy the Syrian Democratic Forces can this be achieved without the American forces leaving northeastern Syria, and can the Assad regime be trusted with regard to the opposition, the political process and refugees”
Turkish newspapers reported that the Assad regime is begging Russia in order to persuade Turkey to sit with it at the negotiating table.
