Turkey’s bid to reconcile with the Syrian government has left many Syrian refugees in the country on tenterhooks as Ankara faces pressure to cut a deal with Damascus on the return of the Syrians amid rising anti-refugee sentiment in a critical election year.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signaled readiness to meet with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad last week after the two countries’ defense ministers met in Moscow as part of trilateral talks involving their Russian counterpart. The refugee issue was high on the agenda of the landmark meeting, according to the Turkish Defense Ministry.
