Turkey's Syria Stalemate Continues
Turkey’s announcement that “joint efforts will continue with Russia" over Syria masks unresolved differences in approach, writes Cengiz Çandar.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, in Istanbul on April 17, but on the same day also took advantage of a photo opportunity with Ahmed Moaz al-Khatib, president of the National Coalition of Opposition and Revolutionary Forces of Syria. Only a tiny segment of the Turkish media noticed the significance of these meetings. Although the meeting with Lavrov was covered by the media, television coverage of Davutoglu meeting al-Khatib was but a minor news item that one saw only by chance.
The Syrian issue is now at the center of intensive diplomatic traffic in Istanbul. Lavrov made a quick visit to there and, as discerned from his statements, departed without agreeing with Turkey on the Syria issue. In other words, the two neighboring countries agreed to disagree.
Davutoglu’s remark that “joint efforts will continue with Russia" despite everything, was a diplomatic confession of the continuing disagreement.
Lavrov came to Turkey because of the "Core Group of the Friends of Syria” meeting scheduled for April 20 in Istanbul. Eleven countries will participate in the meeting promoted by Turkey, or more accurately, Davutoglu and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Alongside Turkey, the US, UK, France, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are especially important participating countries. France was the first, followed by the UK, to announce its recognition of the National Coalition led by al-Khatib as the legitimate representative of Syrian people. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are two leading Arab countries sending weapons and financial support to the Syrian opposition.
