Asharq al-Awsat:

Iran Trying to Normalize Ties between Erdogan, Assad

Rasa - Negotiations under an Iranian mediation were held between officials from the Syrian government and Turkish figures with a possibility to reach reconciliation between President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayip Erdogan, Asharq al-Awsat claimed quoting sources in Tehran and Ankara.

News ID: 422951

Date: 25 August 2016 - 22:06

RNA - Asharq al-Awsat newspaper quoted sources as saying that they expect that Erdogan softens tone on President Assad's government in exchange for Syrian cooperation to prevent the establishment of any Kurdish entity in Northern Syria.

According to the Arab paper, the source also revealed that Ismail Hakki, one of the most leading Turkish diplomats, is the one conducting the negotiations on Ankara’s behalf. Hakki is a retired general who had supervised an agreement reached between Syria and Turkey in 1998 during the crisis with head of Kurdistan Workers’ Party Abdullah Ocalan, who was imprisoned 17 years ago in the Turkish Imrali Island.

According to Asharq al-Awsat, Hakki has held meetings with a number of Syrian officials in Damascus, including Abdullah Al-Ahmar Arabic, a Syrian politician and prominent member of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party, Ali Mamlouk,  a special security adviser to President Assad, and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem and his deputy Feisal Mikdad.

No official source has confirmed the report.

In relevant remarks on Wednesday, senior Advisor to the Iranian Parliament Speaker Hossein Amir Abdollahian underlined the US involvement in the recent failed coup in Turkey, and said Ankara felt the necessity for changing its policies on Syria after the recent developments.

"I personally believe that the Americans were in one way or another behind the coup in Turkey; no one would believe that the flights conducted from Turkey's Incirlik base in which the US fighter jets were deployed on the night of the coup were done without US notice," Amir Abdollahian said in an interview with the Persian service of Sputnik news agency.

He stressed that despite the US betrayal of Ankara's trust by sponsoring the coup, Iran supported President Erdogan as it has supported Syria's legal President Assad.

"Now given the coup which happened in Turkey and the behavior shown by the US behind the scene of the coup, Mr. Erdogan and our friends who are ruling Turkey are naturally adopting new approaches on Syria's political future and reviewing their policies in the region," Amir Abdollahian said.

Also, on Saturday, Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Hossein Dehqan welcomed the Turkish government's change of policies on regional issues, and said Ankara wants to compensate for its past mistakes.

"The Turkish government has accepted the realities and the correctness of the Islamic Republic of Iran's policy against the terrorist streams," General Dehqan told reporters in a press conference in Tehran.

"Practically, they want to somehow compensate for the past which bore no advantages for them, inflicted serious damage on the regional people and the regional countries' infrastructures and helped the presence of aliens in the region," he added.

111/847/C