Syria-Turkey Row Has No Military Solution: Iranian FM
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Foreign Minister of Iran Hossein Amirabdollahian warned that resorting to military action won’t resolve the disputes between Syria and Turkey and will only complicate the conflict further after incurring humanitarian and financial losses.
Addressing a quadrilateral meeting with his Syrian, Turkish and Russian counterparts in Moscow on Wednesday, Amirabdollahian said any political solution for issues related to Syria must take into consideration the Arab country’s full sovereignty over its territory.
He noted that Syria’s neighbors, especially Turkey, can cooperate with the Arab country so that it would be able to gain full control over its national sovereignty “because it will be in favor of Syria’s stability and security and is also in line with security and border stability of the neighboring countries.”
The top Iranian diplomat added that the deployment of the Syrian army on the borders and the establishment of security in cooperation with the neighbors can allay the security concerns of Ankara and other neighboring countries and prevent the activities of terrorists and separatists, Press TV reported.
It could also restore the neighborly and strategic relations between the two sides and prepare the ground for the withdrawal of the Turkish military forces from joint border areas with Syria based on a mutually-agreed timetable, he noted.
“We believe that a strong and independent Syria will be able to overcome terrorism, separatism, and the US forces’ occupation and plunder of the country’s national resources,” Amirabdollahian added.
Turkey severed its relations with Syria in March 2012, a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants.
Now, after 11 years, the two neighboring countries are taking steps toward reconciliation.
Turkey has deployed forces in Syria in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria in October 2019 after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push militants of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.