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Hamed Khosrowshahi said in an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations: “Thirteen years have passed since the famous speech of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who promised to attend Salahuddin Ayyubi’s tomb, Hejaz railway station and offer prayers in the Umayyad Mosque alongside the Syrian opposition. The regime established in Syria remains strong despite the many damages to the infrastructure and the deaths and displacement of a large number of people in this country; however, Turkey is facing the substantial issue of Syrian refugees. According to this expert, based on some statistics, nearly three million Syrians live in Turkey, which has had serious effects on the labor market, the distribution of facilities, and the socio-cultural life of the people of this country. Mentioning that Turkey has the most significant number of asylum seekers and refugees in the world, with nearly 4 million people, and Syria has the most significant number of immigrants in the world, with almost 7 million people, can help to understand the significance of the issue of Syrian immigrants in Turkey.
Khosrowshahi, referring to the riots in the city of Kayseri, Turkey, in the past weeks, which were caused by the accusation of child sexual abuse by a Syrian man, the extent of which affected Turkish public opinion and caused pressure on the Turkish government to find a solution for returning the Syrian refugees, continued: “It was precisely after these social events that Erdogan invited Bashar Assad to visit Turkey after 13 years of severing relations. Accordingly, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, who has a security background and experience as the head of the Intelligence Service, in a joint press conference with the Saudi Foreign Minister, implicitly asked Iran and Russia to play a constructive role in convincing Syria to resume relations with Turkey.”
The expert on Caucasus issues explained: “The ruling “Justice and Development Party” led by Recep Tayyip Erdogan failed to win the majority of votes in the last April elections for the first time since 2001, and in the big cities and even in the cities that were considered the traditional base of this party, it lost supremacy to its secular rivals who have a clear position of reconciliation with the Syrian government and the return of the Syrian refugees.”
He added: “Syrian authorities and Bashar Assad himself have announced that any normalization with Turkey will be possible only after that country agrees with the withdrawal of thousands of troops from rebel-held areas, a precondition which Ankara has rejected in the past, referring to security concerns about The Syrian Kurdish militia. The presence of US-backed Kurdish opposition in areas close to the borders of Turkey has added to security concerns since this country considers the Kurdish People’s Defense Units an ally and a division of the Syrian PKK.
Khosrowshahi emphasized: “The sum of these events demonstrates that Erdogan is preparing for a big political-economic deal with Bashar Assad. That is the return of Syrian immigrants in exchange for helping to enforce the dominance of the established Syrian government in the northeastern borders, possibly the peace between the opposition and the government, and Turkey’s investment for the economic reconstruction of Syria after the war.
This expert continued: “It is natural that Iran and Russia, as two effective countries, can play an important role in this process, and without persuading these two countries, such an agreement is not possible. Of course, Russia, which is facing comprehensive sanctions from the West after the war in Ukraine, sees Turkey as an escape to circumvent the sanctions and will probably intervene in this reconciliation in return for certain benefits.
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