Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov joined his Turkish counterpart Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on the second day of his visit to Türkiye for a news conference at the Presidential Complex. The Russia-Ukraine conflict dominated their agenda.
“We discussed regional issues and the Ukraine issue dominated our talks. We expressed our desire for an end to the conflict as soon as possible through negotiations and reiterated our support to achieve this," Çavuşoğlu said.
"The war, which has been going on for more than a year, continues to harm the entire world. We once again emphasized our expectation that the war will end through negotiations on the basis of international law. We are trying to solve the problem by negotiating with both parties," Çavuşoğlu stressed. Türkiye, internationally praised for its mediator role between Ukraine and Russia, has repeatedly urged Kyiv and Moscow to end the war, which has stretched to over a year, through negotiations.
Meanwhile, Lavrov said they wanted any Ukraine peace talks to focus on creating a "new world order." "Any negotiation needs to be based on considering Russian interests, Russian concerns," Lavrov said. "It should be about the principles on which the new world order will be based." He added Russia rejects a "unipolar world order led by 'one hegemon.'"
Russia has long said it was leading a struggle against the United States' dominance over the international stage and argues the Ukraine offensive is part of that fight. The Kremlin this week said it had no choice but to continue its more than yearlong offensive in Ukraine, seeing no diplomatic solution.
Çavuşoğlu also expressed Türkiye’s heartfelt gratitude to Russia for its quick relief efforts following the Feb. 6 earthquakes, which claimed thousands of lives in Türkiye’s southeast. Lavrov is the highest-ranking Russian official to visit Türkiye since the earthquakes hit.
“I thank Sergey and the Russian Federation for hosting the quadrilateral meeting. We are aware that this is an issue that cannot be solved through just one meeting. We are realistic but we need to continue the dialogue. We will remain engaged with Russia for close consultation for the normalization process with Syria.”
On the Syria-Türkiye talks, Lavrov said both sides had their own rightful interests and as mediators, Russia looked at the process that way. He said preparations were underway for a ministerial-level quadrilateral meeting for the normalization of Turkish-Syrian ties and they have been discussing a date.
Deputy foreign ministers of Türkiye, Iran, Syria and Russia met in Moscow earlier this week for normalization talks between the two neighbors. Iran and Russia are major backers of Syria's Assad regime since the beginning of the civil war in 2011. The meeting was a prelude to a higher-level meeting between foreign ministers of the countries. Russia's long-standing effort to open a channel of dialogue between Türkiye and the Bashar Assad regime paid off last year, as the defense ministers and intelligence chiefs of Türkiye, Russia and the Assad regime met in Moscow on Dec. 28.
In November, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said a meeting with Syrian regime leader Bashar Assad was a possibility after having severed diplomatic ties with Damascus throughout the 11-year conflict. Any normalization between Ankara and Damascus would reshape the decadelong Syrian war.
Turkish backing has been vital to sustaining moderate Syrian opposition in their last significant territorial foothold in the northwest after Assad defeated opponents across the rest of the country, aided by Russia and Iran.
However, according to statements from the Assad regime, Damascus wants the end of the Turkish presence on Syrian territories. Since 2016, Ankara has launched a trio of successful counterterrorism operations across its border in northern Syria to prevent the formation of a terror corridor and enable the peaceful settlement of residents: Euphrates Shield in 2016, Olive Branch in 2018 and Peace Spring in 2019.
The PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, the YPG, has controlled much of northeastern Syria after Assad's forces withdrew in 2012. Turkish officials have voiced that Ankara and Damascus could, in the upcoming period, cooperate on the return of Syrian refugees in Türkiye as well as counterterrorism efforts as the PKK/YPG still controls much of the war-torn country’s east, making it impossible for Assad to establish territorial integrity.
The return of refugees is also crucial for Türkiye which hosts the largest number of the Syrian refugee community in the world, under the heavy financial burden and amid rising anti-refugee sentiment as a far-right party that enjoys popularity solely for its opposition to Syrian refugees.
Yet, Ankara always assured the refugees that they would not be forcibly returned to their country and will only be allowed to return in a dignified way and only to safer zones of Syria those liberated from terrorists.
On the other side, normalization has also been ongoing with the regime and the Arab world. Several Arab leaders have voiced the possibility of Syria being readmitted to the Arab League. A summit is expected to take place in Riyadh in May. Assad's attendance at an Arab League summit would mark the most significant development in his reconciliation within the Arab world since 2011 when Syria was suspended from the organization.
Many Western and Arab states had boycotted Assad over his brutal crackdown on protests, resulting in violence that led to a protracted civil war. Syria's return to the 22-member body would be mostly symbolic but reflects a change in the regional approach toward the Syrian conflict. Hundreds of thousands of people died in the war, which drew in many foreign powers and splintered the country.
Çavuşoğlu said they also discussed the developments in the region after the Karabakh war, adding that they stressed the need for maintaining a comprehensive peace agreement between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
