After a surprise meeting between the defense chiefs of Turkey and Syria in Moscow, Ankara indicated Thursday that Turkish-Syrian talks would continue in 2023 with a focus on joint efforts to combat terror groups and the return of Syrian refugees to their country. 

The next step would be a meeting between foreign ministers, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told journalists at a year-end presser in Ankara. He said that a meeting date is not yet set, though sources in Ankara say it is to take place early in 2023.

Cavusoglu steered clear of any speculation about whether a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was in the cards. After making several overtures to Damascus in the second half of 2022, Erdogan announced in mid-December that he had proposed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to establish a trilateral mechanism with Russia and Syria and to hold a leaders meeting on security and migration. “First, our intelligence agencies, then defense ministers and then foreign ministers could meet. After their meetings, we as the leaders may come together,” Erdogan had told a group of journalists.  

Wednesday’s defense ministers meeting between Hulusi Akar and Ali Mahmoud Abbas, hosted by their Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu, is the first ministerial-level engagement between the two countries in 11 years. The ministers were accompanied by their intelligence chiefs. In identical statements, the Turkish, Syrian and Russian defense ministries said that the sides tackled three issues: the Syrian crisis, the return of the Syrian refugees and joint efforts to combat terrorist organizations in Syria.