MOSCOW, February 21. /TASS/. Western countries are preventing Ankara from moving toward better ties with Damascus, said Hasan Unal, a professor at Baskent University in Ankara.

"What is at the center of the problem, if we are talking about Syria, is the policy of the collective West that is aimed at changing the regime, such as the intervention in 2011. At that time, relations between Syria and Turkey were ruined, and had it not been for that intervention, economic relations between our countries would be excellent," he said at a meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club devoted to international migration in the Mediterranean Sea. "And even now, the collective West does not want any countries to normalize their relations with the legitimate government in Damascus. And it is restricting Turkey, not allowing Turkey to move toward normalization of relations."

The analyst said that in 1998, Syria and Turkey "practically buried the hatchet and started a new era in their bilateral relations."

"Over 13 years, these relations had been strengthening in all respect," he said.

The analyst said Turkey is hosting a large number of migrants, including from Syria.

"This is a huge burden for Turkey," he said.

Communication between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then serving as the country’s prime minister, ceased in 2011 due to critical disagreements over ways of resolving the Syrian crisis. The two countries severed diplomatic ties.