Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani yesterday vowed to work closer to end the fighting in Syria. But the two leaders made no comment on US President Donald Trump’s shock announcement that he was pulling US troops out of the war-ravaged nation. “There are many steps that Turkey and Iran can take together to stop the fighting in the region and to establish peace,” said Erdogan, without elaborating, at a joint news conference with Rouhani in Ankara. “Syria’s territorial integrity must be respected by all sides. Both countries are of the same opinion regarding this,” Rouhani said in translated remarks. The two leaders’ meeting had been arranged before Trump’s announcement about the US pull-out, a move already welcomed by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Some Western analysts consider the US presence a key counterweight to Iranian influence in the region. Ankara has repeatedly called for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s ouster and supported Syrian opposition fighters. Tehran and Moscow meanwhile are Damascus’s strongest allies and have helped to turn the war in Assad’s favour. Turkey, despite its differences with Iran and Russia over Syria, has worked closely with both countries to find a political solution to the war through the Astana process launched last year.
As part of the peace talks which began in the Kazakh capital, Turkey, Iran and Russia agreed four “de-escalation” zones in Syria. All of those except the northwestern province of Idlib have been retaken by Damascus. At yesterday’s news conference, Rouhani said Turkey and Iran would continue their cooperation under the Astana peace process. Erdogan threatened last week to launch a new operation east of the Euphrates in northern Syria against the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG).
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offering a Holy Qur’an to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani after they chaired the Turkey-Iran High-Level Cooperation Council Meeting at Presidential Complex in Ankara.
