Erdogan Expresses Hope for Meeting with Assad to Repair Bilateral Relations

Erdogan Expresses Hope for Meeting with Assad to Repair Bilateral Relations
November 13, 2024, 1:04 pm

أردوغان والأسد

On Wednesday, CNN Türk reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated he still hopes to meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad to repair relations between the two countries.

Erdogan told reporters aboard his plane returning from Azerbaijan, "Restoring relations with Bashar al-Assad would ease regional tensions, I hope."

| President Erdogan:
📌 Assad must realize that Syria's unity is not threatened by the Syrians
📌 Assad needs to take the necessary steps to create a new atmosphere in the country
📌 We have extended our hands to the Syrian side regarding normalization
📌 We believe that this normalization will open the door to peace and calm in Syrian territories
📌 The Israeli threat regarding Syria is not a fictional story
📌 Our cross-border operations for the security of our country are always on our agenda
📌 We are ready to start operations at any time if we feel threatened

In July, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad expressed his willingness to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan if it serves the country's interests, but he noted that the issue is not the meeting itself but its "content."

Assad stated, "If the meeting leads to results or if a hug or admonishment... serves the interest of the country, I will do it."

He added, "But the problem does not lie here (...) but in the substance of the meeting," questioning the meaning of any meeting that does not discuss the "withdrawal" of Turkish forces from northern Syria.

He clarified that "there is no consideration of problems with neighbors, but this does not mean that we go without rules."

President Assad remarked, "Some talk about conditions; we do not set conditions, and some speak of demands, perhaps a softer language than conditions. We do not set demands. What we are talking about is not conditions or demands; it is requirements, and the terminology is different."

Relations between Damascus and Ankara have deteriorated since the outbreak of the war in Syria in 2011, during which Turkey supported armed groups seeking to overthrow Assad.

Turkey began its operations in April 2022 after accusing the Kurdistan Workers' Party, located in Iraq and Syria, of targeting its territory with attacks.

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