Iraq said on Saturday it is planning to host talks between Turkey and Syria to help normalize ties between its two neighbours after a rupture of more than a decade.
Relations have soured between Ankara and Damascus after a civil war erupted in Syria in 2011.
Turkey supported opposition insurgents seeking to oust incumbent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Turkey has since launched military operations in neighbouring Syria.
On Saturday, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein said his country has launched an initiative to mediate between Turkey and Syria, the official Iraqi news agency INA quoted him as saying in the United States.
Hussein added that he had conferred with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Washington to arrange for a meeting in the Iraqi capital Baghdad with Syrian officials. "There are also continued contacts with the Syrian side," he added.
The date of the talks will be set later, he said.
Later Saturday, Syria said any initiative to restore ties with Turkey should be based on Turkish forces' withdrawal from its territory and the combat of what it called "terrorist" groups.
Syria "emphasizes that return of normal relations between the two countries is based on return to the pre-2011 situation," the Syrian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, according to the country's official news agency SANA.
In a sign of rapprochement, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has recently said his country could extend an invitation to al-Assad "at any moment" to discuss restoration of ties.
"We want peace in Syria and we expect everyone who supports peace to support this historic call," Erdoğan said on his return flight from the US where he attended a NATO summit.
He did not mention Iraq or any other country for a possible meeting with al-Assad.
Erdoğan severed diplomatic relations with Damascus, describing al-Assad as a "murderer." The Syrian president has long ruled out an improvement in relations while Turkish troops remain on Syrian soil.
A rapprochement between Turkey and Syria, considered unthinkable until relatively recently, has been on the horizon, with al-Assad returning to the international stage after a decade of isolation.
With attitudes towards the some 3 million Syrian refugees in Turkey continuing to deteriorate, with riots targeting their businesses, Erdoğan is under growing domestic pressure to negotiate with al-Assad.
Erdoğan said on Saturday Ankara is close to realizing its goals in its ongoing military operations against Kurdish fighters in neighbouring Iraq and Syria's north.
Erdoğan's remarks come a day after the Turkish Defence Ministry announced one soldier had been killed and another injured in northern Iraq after an improvised explosive device detonated, and accused the "separatist group" of the incident.
Turkey often uses the term to refer to the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey, the US and EU also classify the PKK as a terrorist group.
"We are going to complete the lockdown of the area of Claw-Lock operation in northern Iraq very soon," Erdoğan told military academy graduates in Istanbul.
Erdoğan was referring to the offensive Turkey launched in April 2022 in what it said aimed to fend off PKK attacks from Iraq's north.
Turkey had earlier agreed with the government in Baghdad to cooperate on targeting PKK fighters in Iraq where the group is based.
PKK is now "completely trapped" in both Iraq and Syria, Erdoğan said.
"We will complete the missing points of the security belt along our southern border with Syria," he added.
Turkey has carried out ground offensives in northern Syria to push Kurdish militia from its border since 2016. It controls swathes of land in the area.
A rapprochement with Damascus could also aid Turkey in its relations with Russia, which hosted a meeting of Turkish and Syrian foreign ministers in late 2022 and remains the most important supporter of the al-Assad government.
Erdoğan said on his way back from the NATO summit in Washington on Friday that he hopes that concrete steps can be taken soon, according to his office.
The Turkish president has tasked his foreign minister with making progress on the Syrian relationship, while he has also proposed inviting al-Assad to Turkey.
For Syria, which was recently readmitted to the Arab League, a resumption of relations with Turkey would represent a further signal of the country's return to the international diplomatic scene.
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