The Turkish embassy resumes its work in Damascus

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announced the resumption of his country’s embassy in the Syrian capital, Damascus, as of Saturday.

This came in an interview with the Turkish NTV channel on Friday regarding the developments in Syria.

The Turkish Foreign Minister announced that he had assigned Burhan Köroğlu to be the temporary chargé d’affaires of the Turkish embassy in Damascus, and that he and his team headed to the Syrian capital today (Friday).

Commenting on the days that witnessed the collapse of Bashar al-Assad’s rule in Syria, Fidan said: “We paved the way to ensure that the operation ends without bloodshed and with minimal human losses by continuing negotiations with important players (Russia and Iran).”

He also praised the great courage and determination that characterized the military operation carried out by the Syrian opposition factions against the ousted president, Bashar al-Assad.

On December 8, the Syrian factions took control of the capital Damascus and before that other cities, with the withdrawal of regime forces from public institutions and streets, thus ending the 61-year era of the Baath Party regime and the 53-year rule of the Assad family.

The Turkish minister indicated that they informed Israel of the need to refrain from its provocations by occupying lands in the Syrian Golan and the danger of this strategy.

He pointed out that Israel has developed a strategy aimed at destroying the capabilities and potentials possessed by the new Syrian administration.

Fidan warned Israel, saying: “I believe that this strategy is very dangerous and may lead to major provocations. It seems that they (the Israelis) are ignoring this danger, as things may not go as smoothly as they think.”

He added: “For this reason, we informed them clearly and told them to stop the provocations and stop bombing the areas under the control of the Syrian administration.”

He indicated that Israel wants to open an area in Syria to launch air and ground operations at “any time it wants,” indicating that it is an “Israeli military plan.”

Taking advantage of the Syrian factions’ overthrow of the Assad regime, Israel has intensified its airstrikes in recent days, targeting military sites across the country in a blatant violation of its sovereignty.

Israel also announced the collapse of the 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria, and the deployment of its army in the demilitarized buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights, most of which it has occupied since 1967, in a move condemned by the United Nations and Arab countries.

On the other hand, Fidan said: “Syria has a national government that does not recognize the YPG or any other forces, and will restore its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

He explained that “no one will accept that PKK terrorists coming from Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Europe extract oil (in Syria) and sell it to the world via smugglers through northern Iraq and generate income from that.”

He pointed out that Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham had previously managed the affairs of 5 million Syrians in the areas under its control.

He said: “In Idlib alone, there were 4 million of our Syrian brothers. They have gained in the past four or five years in providing basic services, municipality, education, transportation, and others.”

The Turkish Foreign Minister stressed his confidence in the ability of the Syrian administration and its people to create the appropriate conditions for the return of Syrian refugees.

He added: “Everyone wants to return to their homes, and with the improvement of the situation there and with the people feeling that this improvement is continuing, I believe that the number of returnees will certainly increase.”

The Turkish Minister explained that their goal in the new phase in Syria is to “convince the international community and regional actors to protect the Syrian people, support the new administration in Damascus, and cooperate to restore stability to Syria again.”

He stressed the need not to turn Syria into an arena for the struggle for power and influence again, indicating that Turkey is acting with great sensitivity in this regard.

Fidan described the Syrian file as “complex and multifaceted,” noting that Turkey has tried to manage this crisis with its international and local partners by developing all “effective tools.”

He stated that Turkey’s intention and policy regarding the Syrian issue has always focused on one point, which is “ensuring the well-being and prosperity of the Syrian people.”

At the same time, according to Fidan, Turkey sometimes felt “pessimistic” even for moments, citing the fall of Aleppo to the regime in 2016, and the siege of some Syrian areas by Assad’s forces.

He pointed to Turkey’s constant communication regarding the Syrian file with other parties such as Russia, the United States, and Iran.

Speaking about the Syrian National Army, Fidan praised the ability of the Syrian people to organize themselves, citing his words as evidence of the beginnings of the outbreak of events and the establishment by Syrians of the “Free Syrian Army”, which was the nucleus of the Syrian National Army.

He added that the years following the outbreak of the Syrian events witnessed changes in the strategy of the United States and some regional and European parties regarding the Syrian file, and this was represented in focusing on combating ISIS instead of supporting the Syrian opposition.

Fidan explained that this change in Washington’s strategy and the parties that were moving with it resulted in “unimaginable geostrategic problems for them, and its effects extended to other regions.”

He stressed that Ankara had warned those countries and parties at the time of Russian reactions to the steps they were taking and the spread of their repercussions to other regions, “and this is exactly what happened.”

Fidan also stated that Turkey was communicating with the Syrian opposition in the beginning through the intelligence service.

He explained that “the agents of imperialism inside Turkey and the terrorist Gulen organization were aware of this, so they tried to portray the aid trucks that Turkish intelligence sent to the Turkmen of Syria as weapons provided to ISIS.”

He stressed that the Syrian issue is not just a matter that is decided in the Syrian arena, but “an actual and political struggle is being waged over it inside Turkey as well.”

Minister Fidan said that Ankara saw the beginning of the stage of the fall of the Assad regime even before the recent escalation of the situation.

He added that Turkey, due to its desire to see Syria enjoy sovereignty and territorial integrity, and establish a bright future for its people, has resorted to extending its hand to Damascus recently.

He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly extended invitations for dialogue to the head of the ousted regime to find a solution to the Syrian crisis, while Turkish officials have repeatedly emphasized this during their meetings with their Russian and Iranian counterparts.

He pointed out that the regime “was not in a position to see its flaws and its motivations to continue the war were high.”

Fidan continued: “I am talking here about the period after 2016 in an environment in which there was no war. That stage was an opportunity for the regime to see its flaws and shortcomings and work to avoid them.”

Regarding the reasons for Damascus’s failure to respond to Ankara’s calls for dialogue, Fidan said that “the regime viewed the Syrian people as an enemy, so it did not want to dialogue with Turkey.”

Fidan also stressed that the ousted regime did not have the ability to make its own decisions at the same time. In the context of Russian and Iranian support for the regime, the Turkish minister said that the latter did not receive the desired support from Moscow and Tehran before its fall, which revealed the weakness and fragility of its army.

He also pointed to the speed of the Syrian factions’ advance at the expense of the regime’s army and their control over Aleppo without any significant resistance.

He added that the Russians and Iranians realized that they were “investing in the wrong person and that regional conditions are no longer as they were before,” adding: “It was very important that they did not enter the military equation in Syria during the recent clashes.”

Regarding some concerns related to “Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham,” Fidan said that “this is very natural,” stressing the need to remove these concerns.

In the context of removing these concerns, Fidan said that he had communicated with foreign ministers of Arab countries, indicating that “the world has become receptive to the standards and limitations that Turkey has set in this regard.”

He stressed that there is a desire to see a Syria in which there is no terrorism and terrorist organizations such as the “YPG/PKK” and “ISIS” do not receive support, and minorities are not subjected to mistreatment, and their basic needs are met.

“No one in Syria feels the need to deal with weapons of mass destruction, and it is a country that does not pose any danger or threat to the region, while at the same time ensuring the unity and territorial integrity of the country,” Fidan added.

He explained that they informed the new administration in Damascus of these “concerns” and that they expect it to take the necessary positions and steps to eliminate them.

Fidan called on the countries of the region to “embrace the Syrian issue together, unlike other issues, to end it constructively and in a good way and with a happy ending, so that all countries have a joint effort in this regard.”

He explained that Russia has begun withdrawing its elements stationed in large areas of Syria to its bases there, and that it is likely to begin transporting its equipment to Russia by air from now on.

He added: “But later, how the matter will develop, we will discuss that in the short and medium term and we will follow it closely.”

Regarding the Israeli attacks on Syria, Fidan stressed that the Assad regime has never used its military capabilities against Israel.