ANKARA, September 5. /TASS/. Turkey regrets that Syrian President Bashar Assad is not personally involved in the quadripartite mechanism for normalization of relations between Ankara and Damascus, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said while speaking on his plane on the way back from Sochi, where he had talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He remarked that he saw no positive regard in Syria in this respect.
"Let me state that unfortunately Assad is observing remotely the steps being taken on the Turkey-Russia-Iran-Syria platform for the sake of normalization. In other words, he does not take part in this work. We entered this process openly, hoping that Syria would participate. However, we have not seen Syria’s positive attitude yet," the TRT Haber TV channel quotes Erdogan as saying.
He expressed hope that in the end the Syrian leadership "will also take a seat at the negotiating table."
"It is very important to see the Syrian authorities act in line with the realities on the ground and refrain from approaches that might harm the process. Our main expectations are these: concrete steps in the fight against terrorism, the necessary conditions for the voluntary and safe repatriation of refugees and the launch of the political process in Syria under the auspices of the UN," Erdogan said.
At the same time, he categorically pointed out that Ankara prioritized national security. He argued that as long as what he described as "terrorist threats" emanating from Syria remained, Turkey would not change its approach. In other words, Turkey would will continue to fight these threats, including those in northern Syria.
The first quadripartite format on Syria was held in Moscow on May 10 with the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey, Syria and Iran taking part. At the meeting, it was decided to instruct the deputy foreign ministers to prepare a road map for the development of relations between Damascus and Ankara. During the June 20-21 meeting on Syria on the Astana platform, the parties concerned discussed a draft roadmap, Russia’s special presidential envoy for Syrian settlement, Alexander Lavrentyev, has said. He added that the document required further formalization.