Farid Atti, co-chair of the Legislative Council, said, “Turkey tries to normalize ties with the Syrian regime in order to export its internal crisis, as Turkish presidential elections are approaching, to get more votes after the declining popularity of the Justice and Development Party [AKP].”

On December 28, 2022, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar and the head of the country’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT), Hakan Fidan, met the Syrian Defense Minister, Ali Mahmoud Abbas, and the head of Syria’s intelligence services, Ali Mamlouk, in Moscow, in a meeting attended by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu.

The meeting was the first of its kind since the beginning of the Syrian civil war that broke out in 2011, as ties between Turkey and Syria were severed over the first supporting armed factions which tried to overthrow Syrian Presidents Bashar al-Assad.

The Justice and Development Party will abandon everything, including Turkish-backed armed Syrian opposition factions and its areas of control in Syria just to win the elections, Atti added.

The elections are scheduled for June 2023, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will run for presidency for the second time.

The co-chair pointed out that this rapprochement would serve the election campaign, especially that it would return the Turkey-based Syrian refugees home which is the Turks’ demand amid growing anti-refugee sentiment.

“The AANES has always been supporting the Syrian people and calling for intra-Syrian dialogue based on its belief that only the Syrians have the solution to the Syrian crisis,” Atti noted.

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