Russian President Putin made a statement during the visit of President Erdoğan to Moscow on January 23 that will change the aspect of the discussions about Syria. With his emphasis on “Adana Reconciliation” concluded by Turkey and Syria in 1998 that was not much added to agenda so far, causes some raised eyebrows. With this statement, he brought a new dimension to the discussions about “safe zone” spoken substantially between Turkey and the US.
Of course, the fact that this reminder was made by Putin is important in many ways. If we consider at least two of them, Putin gives the message, ’you don’t need the US. You already have such an agreement with the Syrian administration. This is enough for you if you want to ensure your own border security.’ On the other hand, he indirectly said that Turkey should officially take the Damascus administration as interlocutor. The support given by Turkey to this statement of Putin was also interesting because, although there are signs that the channels of communication are open behind closed doors, the considerations about the approving of Putin is perceived as a message that the Damascus administration could be taken as interlocutor in the following stages.
So, what was in the background of such an agreement? Why was this needed? Let’s try to remember briefly.
During the Father Assad period in Syria, the way for the PKK to use Syrian territory in every respect was paved. Even Abdullah Ocalan was under the protecting of Syrian administration in Damascus. He managed the organization here for 19 years. Hafez al-Assad gave openly support to PKK from constituting training camps to providing all kind of propaganda possibilities, and even to terrorist actions that level at Turkey. Turkey firstly resists to this situation with harsh diplomatic response mechanisms. Because of the insistence of Syria about both sharing the Euphrates River and Hatay, Syria propounded unfounded claims. Father Assad, openly used PKK to achieve his goals. The last straw from the point of Turkey was the speech made by the army commander Atilla Ates of that period on September 16 1998 in Hatay. “We are out of patience to Syria.
Turkey will gain the right to take all kind of measures if the steps we expected will not be taken,” said Ates and made a liminal speech. This was a well-planned speech in terms of timing and its substructure was well-fictionalized. Syria understood the seriousness of the incident after reading this statement. The Adana Reconciliation showed up as a tangible indicative that Hafez al-Assad understands Turkey. About one month after the army commander Ates’s speech on October 20th 1998, the Adana Reconciliation has been signed between Turkey and Syria. According to this;
Syria announced that they will not allow to actions and weapon, logistic, propaganda and financial support to the terror organization that will endanger Turkey’s security. They also announced that they accept PKK and its extensions as terror organizations.
However, Bashar al-Assad made a statement on December 18th 2017, that the US supported PKK/PYD are traitors. Of course this explanation did not come about as a result of the loyalty of the Damascus administration to the Adana Reconciliation. However, taking into account the statement of the Bashar Assad with Putin's discourse, the stones could be dislocated in Syria.
If Turkey can plan the next process according to the spirit of this agreement as in the first support they gave, happening of unexpected, different developments might be possible. It’s possible that this agreement can make significant contributions for getting the willpower in the hands of the region countries for the solution of the problem.