Turkish Foreign Affairs Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and Foreign Minister of Germany Heiko Maas (not seen) hold a press conference after their meeting at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in Ankara, Turkey on October 26, 2019. IMAGE: Fatih Aktaş – Anadolu Agency
On January 12, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said that he could meet his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad early in February, rejecting reports that the meeting could take place this week or the next.
The meeting will be the next step in a Russian-sponsored plan to restore relations between Ankara and Damascus, who were driven apart by the war in Syria. Late in December, the defense ministers of the two countries held a breakthrough meeting in the Russian capital, Moscow, as a part of the plan.
Speaking on a live broadcast, Cavusoglu said there was no set date for the meeting but it would be held “as soon as possible.”
“We have said before that there were some propositions for a date for next week but that they did not suit us … It could be at the beginning of February, we are working on a date,” the minister said.
The meeting will be also attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to recent reports, the meeting could take place in Moscow or in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
The upcoming meeting could help set a historic summit between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad. Erdogan expressed his willingness to meet with Assad on several occasions in the last few months.
The rapprochement with Damascus could help Ankara solve its refugee problem and address the threat posed by Kurdish forces in northern Syria. In return, Damascus could improve its political stance in the Middle East and ease its economic crisis.
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