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Original title: News Observation丨Turkey-Syria relations repair process continues to face challenges and has momentum

On the 10th local time, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran held a four-party meeting in Moscow on the comprehensive restoration of Turkey-Syria relations and other issues. The joint statement issued following the meeting stated that all parties will formulate a roadmap for advancing Turkey-Syria relations. Is the relationship between Turkey and Syria, which has been cold for more than ten years, moving toward reconciliation?

At the meeting of foreign ministers of the four countries held in Moscow, the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran held consultations on the comprehensive restoration of Turkey-Syria relations. Continue to hold high-level talks through the four-party mechanism within the time limit.

It is worth noting that this Quartet Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is the first meeting between the foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria in more than ten years. Since the civil war broke out in Syria in 2011, Turkey has supported the Syrian opposition and sought to overthrow the Bashar government. At this stage, it still has troops in Idlib province in northwestern Syria. In addition, several military operations have been launched to attack Syrian Kurdish armed forces across the border in Syria. Relations between Turkey and Syria have remained cold for many years.

However, since the end of last year, the relationship between the two countries has shown signs of recovery. In December last year, the defense ministers of Syria and Turkey met for the first time in Russia, which was also the first meeting between the defense ministers of the two countries in 11 years. In late April this year, the four defense ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran and heads of intelligence agencies met in Moscow. Discuss issues such as the normalization of relations between Turkey and Syria. The four defense ministers also emphasized the need to continue this kind of dialogue that is conducive to stabilizing the situation in Syria and the region.

In less than half a year, from the Minister of Defense to the heads of the intelligence agencies and the meeting of the foreign ministers, the contacts around the restoration of Turkey-Syria relations continued. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously said the leaders’ talks might follow a meeting of Turkish, Russian and Syrian intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomed the proposal. However, Syrian President Bashar Bashar said in an interview with the Russian Satellite News Agency that he can only meet with Erdogan following Turkey withdraws its troops from Syria.

Analysts believe that the Syrian issue is complicated and various forces are intertwined. Will Turkey withdraw its troops from Syria? How all parties should strengthen anti-terrorism cooperation to meet their respective security demands is probably a practical issue facing the restoration of bilateral relations. But as far as the current situation is concerned, under the wave of reconciliation in the Middle East, Turkey and Syria, whose relations have been cold for more than ten years, are actively willing to promote the restoration of relations between the two countries.