Normalisation with Turkey 'impossible' without troop withdrawal: Syria FM

Normalisation between the Syrian regime and Turkey will not be possible as long as Turkish troops are present in the country's north, Syria’s foreign minister has said.

Faisal Mekdad said the Syrian regime seeks to end the "abnormality" of Turkish boots on Syrian soil, state-run news agency SANA quoted him as saying.

The Syrian regime has on many occasions conditioned the withdrawal of Turkish forces from its territories as a prerequisite for any normalisation between the two countries.

"Normalisation can only be achieved after the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syria, and we highly appreciate the effort made by [our] Russian friends" on finding a solution to this, Mekdad told Russian broadcaster RT on Sunday.

Russia has tried to mediate talks between Damascus and Ankara and proposed a roadmap earlier this month on how the two sides can begin negotiations.

While Turkey has backed opposition forces aimed at overthrowing the Assad regime, there has been dialogue between the two sides in recent months, particularly on security.

Prospects and pitfalls of a Turkish withdrawal from northern Syria 👇

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Turkey has maintained a military presence - along with local proxy forces - in parts of northern Syria since its first excursion in 2016 aimed at flushing out Kurdish armed groups.

It is now primarily concerned with the presence of Kurdish militias on its southern borders and the return of some 3-4 million Syrian refugees back to Syria, despite uproar from rights groups. 

The US, meanwhile, operates a military base in Al-Tanf, along Syria’s shared borders with Iraq and Jordan.

"We are always optimistic, as the occupation must end, whether in the northwest, northeast and Al-Tanf," Mekdad said.

The New Arab correspondent Absi Sleiman said Turkey could not pull out and leave its frontier exposed to the threat of Kurdish groups, which it has fought for decades, nor move Syrian refugees to areas in the country that would be vulnerable to regime attacks.

Other analysts say the regime is not interested in retaking these territories, preferring to avoid additional social, economic and political pressures in areas that have been out of its hands for a decade or more.

Sleiman said both Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government are trying to raise the stakes before they start talking.

"At the end of the day the main decider is Russia, so I don't think these statements [by Assad or Erdogan] are going to obstruct this process which fall within Russia and Turkey’s benefits," Sleiman said.

Erdogan is eager to re-establish ties with Syria in light of Arab rapprochement with the regime after its 12-year isolation, following a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters which spiralled into the full-blown conflict.

Syrian opposition groups which Turkey has backed for years - and which Damascus considers terrorists - have expressed outrage and disappointment with Ankara for trying to restore ties with the Syrian regime.

"Terrorism cannot be eliminated, economic conditions cannot be revived, and refugees cannot return directly between day and night, as conditions must be created for them," said Damascus' top diplomat.