Turkey to invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad for reconciliation talks and the restoration of diplomatic relations, Turkish Leader Erdogan said on Sunday.
“We have now arrived at a point where if Bashar Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkey, we will also show that approach towards him,” Erdogan told reporters on his way back from Berlin. He added: “Putin and the Iraqi prime minister have an approach for talks to be in Turkey. We are talking about mediation everywhere, why not with our neighbour?”
Erdogan said that if President Putin visits Turkey soon, it may help start a new process, as all the past years have made it clear that a permanent solution mechanism needs to emerge. During his trip to the SCO summit in Kazakhstan, he told a group of journalists accompanying him that the he and Putin would get Assad’s invitation.
His remarks came after he announced to the media last week his intentions to negotiate with Assad, leading to mass protests across northern Syria against the Turkish military presence. The Turkish leader reportedly insisted on the fact that despite his willingness to negotiate with Assad and restore ties, the government expects reforms in Syria and guarantees of a new social contract with fairness and justice to unite the country.
Turkey severed relations with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, in which it backed rebels seeking to topple Bashar al-Assad. Ankara, for its part, has conducted several cross-border military operations against militants who threaten its national security, further forming a “security zone” in northern Syria where Turkish troops currently deploy.
