Just before the start of the New Year, Turkey and Syria began what is sure to be a long process of reconciliation. Using Russia as an intermediary, Syrian and Turkish defense and intelligence ministers met in Moscow on Dec. 28 to discuss refugees, counterterrorism, border security, and the overall state of the bilateral relationship. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a main proponent of the Syrian opposition and one of the first regional leaders to isolate Syrian dictator Bashar-Assad during the onset of the civil war in 2011, is now musing about an in-person summit with the strongman.
