Protests in more than 30 towns and villages have been staged over the past ten days by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition groups in the last enclaves they still control in the country’s north. However, contrary to what might have been expected, their protests this time were directed not to Damascus, but to Ankara. What has brought the (mostly Islamist) anti-regimes to the streets is the clear intention of the Erdogan government to normalize relations with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and their fear that they may find themselves helpless at the mercy of the Syrian regime in the near future.

Turkey openly supported the Syrian opposition and severed diplomatic relations with the Assad government from the very first days of the so-called “Arab Spring” in Syria in 2011. However, Russian intervention saved the regime and gradually drove the Syrian president’s armed opponents into his enclave of Idlib. . At a recent meeting with Erdogan in Sochi on the Black Sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin recommended that he enter into a direct dialogue with Assad on all issues that overshadow their bilateral relationship.

The first signs of a coming shift in Ankara’s policy appeared on Aug. 11, when Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said he had a brief conversation with his Syrian counterpart at an international meeting in Belgrade. A week later, the vice-president of the ruling party of the AKP, Hayati Yazici, when asked about the possibility of an Erdogan-Assad meeting, replied: “I cannot say that this will never happen. Dialogue can start at a certain level and reach the top.”

The truth is that, despite the break in diplomatic relations, Ankara has kept an open channel of communication with Damascus through the intelligence chiefs of the two countries. But it seems that the moment is near when the dialogue will be brought to the “highest level”. On Tuesday, Mevlut Cavusoglu gave another sign of a shift in Turkey’s stance, saying his government favors “no strings attached” dialogue if it serves specific purposes.

Kurdish and the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, Turkey’s priorities.

“There can be no preconditions for dialogue, but what will be its purpose? The country must be rid of terrorists… People must be able to return to their homes,” the head of Turkish diplomacy told Haber Global TV channel, outlining Ankara’s two main priorities in Syria: the neutralization of Kurdish militants (terrorists, Turkey), who control most of the northern and eastern Syria and resettled a large number of the 3.7 million Syrian refugees who fled to Turkey, where social unrest mounts in an election year.

Turkey announced a new military intervention, the fifth in a row, in northern Syria to create a “safe zone” 30 kilometers deep, pushing back Kurdish YPG militants. However, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during a recent meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad, warned Ankara that a Turkish invasion would be “unacceptable” to Moscow and spoke in favor of finding a political solution after the restoration of diplomatic relations with Damascus.

At the same time, Turkey is determined to normalize its relations with Israel, as evidenced by the two countries’ decision to exchange ambassadors again after four years of diplomatic tension. This choice has caused concern among the Palestinians, as evidenced by the visit of their President Mahmoud Abbas to Turkey in the previous two days. However, Tayyip Erdogan assured his guest that the normalization of relations with Israel “will in no way diminish our support for the Palestinian people.”

Sources: REUTERS, AL MONITOR.