Erdogan-Rouhani: The idea of a Turkish reconciliation with Assad was raised

While highlighting the announcement by US President Donald Trump of his intention to withdraw his troops from Syria last Wednesday, a meeting was overlooked – arguably no less important than this decision, which surprised the Kurds and allies of Washington – the meeting that gathered President Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani in Ankara on Thursday.

The Erdogan-Rouhani meeting is due to a wide range of multi-level factors, most notably economic.

At the joint press conference, Erdogan stressed that “his country stands by Iran on the issue of US sanctions” which “endanger the security and stability of the region”.

Erdogan’s insistence on the intention of his country to continue cooperation with Iran, which estimated the volume of trade with them by 11.7 billion dollars at the end of 2017, in light of losses incurred by the Iranian riyal, which peaked at the end of September by 47%, after the activation of sanctions on Tehran First, the “shock” that the Turkish lira did not fully recover from the bank loans coincided with the case of US Rev. Andrew Brunson. Secondly, Turkey is one of the eight countries excluded by the US administration from sanctions on Iranian oil.

At the political level, the agreement combines Astana, Erdogan and Rouhani, and their Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. This was made clear through Rouhani’s remarks, which confirmed that cooperation with Ankara would continue in the course of the agreement without commenting on Trump’s decision to withdraw its troops from Syria.

Any military operation in Syria without coordination with Damascus.

In this context, the Brookings Institute said that the American withdrawal will increase “tens of thousands of Iranian-backed fighters in Syria” force, pointing out that this step will give Iran “unrivaled” ability in Syria and the American withdrawal will help Iran strategically, That it will give it more room to complete the passage of the road that connects Tehran to Beirut and the Mediterranean.