Important allies: Putin meets Assad amid calls to defuse Turkey-Syria tensions

President Vladimir Putin held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad in Moscow amid calls for Russian mediation to cool tensions between Turkey and Syria.

Wednesday’s talks between the pair — the first since since March 2023 — come after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan flagged the potential of a three-way meeting to discuss normalising ties between Ankara and Damascus.

Putin highlighted his concerns over the situation in the Middle East, which he said was “tending to escalate,” in opening remarks between the pair which were aired on state television Thursday.

Moscow is Syria’s most important ally, having effectively saved Assad’s government through its military intervention in 2015 during a civil war.

“I am very interested in your opinion on how the situation in the region as a whole is developing. Unfortunately, it is tending to escalate, we see this. This concerns Syria directly,” Putin said.

Assad said his visit to Moscow was a “very important” opportunity to discuss “events that are taking place today in the world as a whole and in the Eurasian region”, according to a translation into Russian.

Neither mentioned Turkey or the conflict in Syria in the televised remarks.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to say whether a possible meeting between Putin, Erdogan and Assad was discussed in private talks.

“The situation in the region was discussed in a broad context,” he told Russian state media on Thursday.

– ‘Improving relations’ –

Turkey originally aimed to topple Assad’s regime when the Syrian conflict erupted with the violent suppression of peaceful protesters in 2011.

Turkey then backed rebels calling for Assad to be removed and Erdogan has also branded the Syrian leader a “murderer.”

As Damascus regained territory, however, Erdogan reversed course and has lately prioritised the prevention of what in 2019 he called a “terror corridor” opening up in northern Syria.

Since 2022, top Syrian and Turkish officials have met for Russia-mediated talks.

Erdogan has long said he could reconsider ties with Assad as his government is working to ensure safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees.

“Now we have come to such a point that as soon as Bashar al-Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkey, we will show him the same approach,” Erdogan said at a regional summit in Kazakhstan earlier this month.

In a complex multi-sided conflict, Turkey has launched a string of offensives in Syria since 2016 targeting Kurdish militias, Islamic State group jihadists and forces loyal to Assad.

Pro-Turkish forces in Syria now control two vast strips of territory along the border.

Moscow has complicated, but generally pragmatic and warm relations with NATO member Turkey, with Putin and Erdogan speaking regularly.

Analysts have said any rapprochement between Turkey and Syria is likely to be gradual due to the complex set of thorny issues between the two sides.