Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is seeking to renew his presidential mandate, is facing the key challenge of resolving the protracted issue of Syrian refugees, which had an adverse effect on his Justice and Development Party, or AK party, at the last municipal elections.
Erdogan’s party lost the mayorship of Istanbul, which is important for its symbolism, and his political circles dread the possibility of losing the presidency if the problem of war-displaced Syrians, whose number exceeds three million in Turkey, is not settled.
Erdogan hopes to send the Syrians back home, a matter that gained urgency following the confrontations that occurred between them and the Turks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has intervened to help expedite reconciliation between Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, in order to facilitate work on repatriating the displaced Syrians before the Turkish presidential elections. However, before any rapprochement or a meeting may take place, Assad is supposed to take a number of decisions, including issuing a general amnesty and stopping the effects of arrest warrants against those who have fled Syria to escape mandatory military service. If such rapprochement occurs, it would have positive impact and repercussions on the situation in the region, especially with regard to a solution to Syrian presence in Lebanon.
