Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad while casting his vote in the country’s parliamentary elections in Damascus on July 15. (The Syrian Presidency Office)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said on July 15 that he would only meet his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan if the two countries could focus on the core issues, including Ankara’s support for “terrorism” and the pullout of Turkish forces from Syrian territory.
“The problem is not the meeting, but its content,” a video clip released by the presidency showed Assad telling reporters in Damascus while casting his vote in the country’s parliamentary elections.
Turkey severed ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the war, in which it supported rebels looking to oust Assad. Ankara’s involvement grew dramatically in the last eight years, as its forces took over large parts of northern and eastern Syria.
Speaking in June to Russia’s Syria envoy, Alexander Lavrentyev, Assad said that “Syria has welcomed” all reconciliation initiatives with Turkey after Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said a month earlier that his government was working on reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus. Following the remarks, Erdogan said that he was willing to meet with Assad.
Earlier this month efforts to reconcile Syria and Turkey saw a new breakthrough when the Turkish President instructed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to meet with Assad to start restoring relations between the two countries. Erdogan also said that “Fidan was authorized to organize a meeting with President Assad in a third country.
Iraq’s Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein later revealed that an agreement had been reached with Syria and Turkey to hold a meeting between officials from the two countries in Baghdad.
Syria still appears to be very cautious about the rapprochement with Turkey, especially that Ankara is yet to provide any guarantees.
“What is the basis for the meeting? Would it be ending the reasons for the problem, which are supporting terrorism and withdrawing from Syrian lands?… This is the core of the problem,” Assad told reporters. “If there were no discussion about the core of (the problem), what would such a meeting mean?”
The Syrian President added that he would respond positively to any initiative aimed at improving bilateral ties but that the basis for such talks must be set first.
The remarks indicate that major obstacles are still in the way of restoring relations between Syria and Turkey. While an agreement may not be near, it appears to be inevitable.
Turkey’s eagerness to coordinate with Damascus on issues like the threat posed by American-backed Kurdish forces in northern and Eastern Syria and the Repatriation of millions of Syrian refugees will likely force it to make some concessions in the end.
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fully agree dr. assad
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be careful. it’s not the first time that diplomats get killed by turkish security. remember the russian diplomat killed while speaking.
yep. turkroaches with kill assad and then conduct a joint assault on damascus and aleppo with the assistance of israel. turks in the north and jews in the west.
i am sure the same people who say that there is no point in talking to russia until it fully withdraws from ukraine will find a reason why a nato member occupying the territory of a sovereign nation and supporting rebells there is totaly reasonable …
syria will not barter with it’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. turkoid invaders must leave!
some years ago the saa were on the way to liberating idlib then their offensive stopped for some reason i hope the russians didn’t advise them to because many of the terrorists vwere allowed to leave aleppo to idlib and it’s been a disaster with hts all over the place.
i would not call them instigator but catalysator. the descision to destory syria was made elsewhere the turks just made the descistion to profit of something they cant change anyway.
the turks were the main ones instigating the conflict, in 2012 they looted the industrial area of allepo taking whole factories back to turkey, it’s a big ask for assad to forget that.
totally true and confirmed, as erdogan needs to fully apologize to dr. assad for all his misdeeds in syria before any kind of meeting
who gives is a s*** what assad thinks. he’s not capable to protect his own borders so we have to do it ourselves. he’s not in control anyway he is just russian puppet and the rest
so moving al quaida from aleppo through turkish territory to attack kurds in syria and armenians in azerbeydshan is what you call protecting borders.
clever tactics
he defends the borders better than cia turks,can bet their lifes on that too,nato fascist punks!
no “hidden hand” flashing? not even a triple six ‘okay’ sign, or even a shadow over one eye?
no any talks with occupiers, and moreover with wahhabi supporters! bravo and well done mr. president assad.
a+++$ you still around
english prick still dickery around.
try again.
erdoggy is a snake..like his natostan owners, incapable of ever speaking truth. beware of and avoid all dealings with viper$