59% of Turks support a meeting between Erdogan, Al-Assad: Poll
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A poll by the Metropoll Research Center finds that 59% of Turks favor a meeting between Turkish and Syrian Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar Al-Assad.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a ceremony, in Ankara, Turkey, on May 16, 2022 (AP Photo/Burhan Ozbilici, File)
The Metropoll Research Center conducted a poll in Turkey that revealed that 59% of Turks supported the idea of a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
The survey was conducted in 28 provinces of Turkey by phone, RIA Novosti reported.
“Almost 29% of respondents were against this idea, the remaining 12% refrained from answering,” the report said.
In early October, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he was ready to meet with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad when the time was right, noting that there were modest talks between Ankara and Damascus.
The Turkish President also hinted at the possibility of reconsidering relations with Damascus after the 2023 elections in Turkey.
In an article written by Abdulkadir Selvi in the pro-Erdogan newspaper, Hurriyet, it was revealed that the Turkish President expressed that he had an interest in meeting with his Syrian counterpart had he attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan.
In the same context, Reuters cited four sources as saying that the heads of the Turkish and Syrian intelligence - Hakan Fidan and Ali Mamlouk - met in Damascus and held several meetings.
The Arabic-language Al-Watan newspaper reported at the end of December that a meeting between defense ministers of Russia, Turkey, and Syria, which was held in Moscow, established an agreement on some critical topics, most notably the withdrawal of Turkish groups from Syria.
Turkey committed during the meeting in Moscow to totally withdraw its forces from Syria and to respect the Arab country's sovereignty and territorial integrity, a source said as quoted by the newspaper.
