Syria Assistant FM: Turkey Military Withdrawal Prerequisite to Normalize Ties

Head of the Syrian delegation, Assistant Foreign and Expatriates Minister, Dr. Ayman Sousan , affirmed that Turkey’s formal and unequivocal announcement that it will withdraw its forces from all Syrian lands, and to start withdrawal from these lands, is “the gateway to re-establish communication between the two sides,” stressing that restoring the situation in the northeast and northwest of Syria to what it used to be requires conditions can be realized by preserving Syria’s sovereignty and unity, withdrawing of illegal forces, combating terrorism, and restoring of the Syrian state’s control over all its territory.
Sousan noted in a speech before the quadripartite meeting of the assistant foreign ministers of Syria, Russia, Iran and Turkey, which is being held in the Russian capital, Moscow, that Syria has been subjected to an unprecedented terrorist war during the past 12 years, with full and unlimited planning and support from some Western, regional and Arab countries, where the foreign terrorists came from more than 100 states, according to UN reports. “Unfortunately, this was through neighboring countries,” he added.

“We thank the Russian and Iranian friends for their valuable assistance to Syria in confronting terrorism, and we appreciate their supportive position throughout these years, but on the other hand, we cannot overlook the fact that other countries have taken a different path, as they took advantage of the situation created by this war to illegally send their forces to Syria and be present on its territory without any invitation or coordination with the legitimate government, not to mention their support to terrorist groups in Syria.” , Sousan said.