Syrians in Turkey fear the worst as Erdogan changes tune on Assad
The fate of millions of Syrian refugees in Turkey hangs in the balance amid fears that they may become pawns in the country's changing politics.
Syrian refugees have become central in the political debate in Turkey ahead of elections next year. Calls to repatriate them to war-torn Syria used to be the cause of fringe, right-wing parties, but now they've become mainstream as the country reels from an economic crisis.
Turkey, once a sworn enemy of Syria's regime, has lately been sending signals that it's ready to start talking to it. That has shocked many Syrian refugees in Turkey, most of whom fled the violence there and fear for their lives if they return home.
"There isn't a precondition for dialogue [with Syria]," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in an interview last week. "What matters more is the aim and target of that dialogue," he told Turkish broadcaster Haber Global.
His comments marked a dramatic shift from Ankara's position over the past decade. Turkey has been one of the main backers of the Syrian opposition and armed factions that have fought to topple the Assad regime there, and it has intervened in the conflict militarily. The Turkish military maintains a presence across its border with Syria and in areas inside Syria it controls along with Syrian opposition forces.
Cavusoglu made his comments just days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told reporters that "diplomacy can never be cut off" with Damascus, and that Ankara needs to "secure further steps with Syria." Ankara's goal, he added, was not to defeat Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Just a decade ago, Erdogan described Assad's regime as a "terrorist" one that would "pay the price" for the Syrian lives lost in the war. He also vowed to pray in Damascus' famed Umayyad Mosque, suggesting that the regime would be toppled.
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