Alwaght- After Turkey has taken steps to naturalize ties with Israeli regime and Russia; reports suggest that the Turkish government is holding clandestine negotiations with Syrian government in the third countries to mend relation with neighboring Syria as well.
Last week Turkey's pragmatic president Recep Tayyip Erdogan wrote an apology letter to Moscow over shooting down its Su-24 fighter jet over Syria at the very same day, Monday, when Ankara announced it has naturalized ties with Tel Aviv, strained in 2010 following Israeli regime's raid on Turkish flotilla, Marmara, carrying humanitarian aids for Gaza which claimed lives of 10 Turk activists.
Turkish People's Democratic Party (HDP) parliamentary group leader Idris Baluken told Sputnik Turkey that Ankara may be trying to mend relations with Damascus as well. Late last month, the lawmaker tabled a parliamentary question on the secret talks allegedly being held between Syrian and Turkish officials in third countries.
Baluken explained that "according to available information, secret negotiations are being conducted between Syria and Turkey, in Algeria and several other countries. As far as one can judge, the Turkish leadership is preparing the groundwork for a transition away from rhetoric of 'Assad the enemy' to rhetoric of 'Assad the brother'. It seems entirely possible that Damascus has already been sent a letter of apology."
"At the plenary session of parliament, I appealed to the government to clarify the situation regarding information of secret talks between Syria and Turkey. However, we have not received a response officially refuting this information, nor a declaration explaining the details [of such negotiations]," Sputnik cited the Turk MP as saying.
Turkish People's Democratic Party parliamentary group leader Idris Baluken
The lawmaker emphasized that Turkish lawmakers, including members of his party, "have the full right to receive detailed information on changes in the government's strategy on Syria, as we are the ones to feel the brunt of the leadership's misguided Syrian policy."
Baluken implied that Ankara's sudden stance shift towards President Assad has angered Turkey Backed-militants who are fighting against Syrian government, urging them take revenge.
"The results of this policy include the explosion at the Ataturk Airport, which claimed dozens of lives," Baluken told Sputnik.
"In this connection, the Justice and Development Party is obliged to inform the Turkish public about what changes are envisioned in policy on the Syrian track."
Commenting on Ankara's broader foreign policy, Baluken pointed to several other major policy reversals that have already been made. "Based on the examples of relations with Israel, with Russia and with Egypt, we have seen the kinds of changes that are occurring in the government's foreign policy strategy; they are aware on the need to change tactics in order not to lose power. To that end, the ruling party is ready to do anything, and so we assume that the information on the negotiations with Syria is true. If the government insists that this information is false, let them make an official statement to the effect that such negotiations are not being conducted."
Asked about the likely main theme of the talks, the lawmaker suggested that it may very well be the Kurdish issue, "specifically [Ankara's] desire to challenge the status of the Rojava, [the area of northern Syria inhabited by Syrian Kurds]. Erdogan wants to establish contact with the Syrian government using anti-Kurdish rhetoric. We believe that this approach is fundamentally wrong. In doing this, Erdogan and the AKP are again committing the same mistakes again."
A Turkish soldier gestures while standing on the hill overlooking damaged buildings following heavy fighting between government troops and Kurdish fighters in the Kurdish town of Cizre in southeastern Turkey, which lies near the border with Syria and Iraq, on March 2, 2016
Ultimately, Baluken suggested that it is "entirely possible that Damascus has already been sent a letter of apology, in secret. For example, we did not know anything about the letter that was sent to Moscow. Therefore, now it would not be at all surprising if it turns out that a similar letter was sent to the Syrian leadership as well. If this is the case, Erdogan must say so openly."
Whether or not secret Turkish-Syrian negotiations are underway, it remains unclear how exactly the Syrian government and ordinary Syrians are expected to accept a rapprochement with Ankara, in light of its brazen support for the militant groups which have terrorized the country for over five years.
