Erdogan-Assad meeting not ruled out: Ankara

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
29 May 2023 18:48

Senior Turkish and Syrian officials have been working on preparations for a summit between the two presidents.

Ibrahim Kalin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman and chief foreign policy adviser, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Istanbul, Turkey May 14, 2022. Picture taken May 14, 2022 (Reuters)

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said on Monday that the Turkish and Syrian presidents consider meeting in person in the future and under the right circumstances. However, a date for such a meeting has not been scheduled.

"No date has been set so far ... Such meeting is not ruled out but it is not expected in the short term. It all depends on how the situation unfolds," Kalin said in an interview with Haber broadcaster, adding that senior Turkish and Syrian officials have been working on preparations for the summit between the two presidents.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan won Sunday the Turkish presidential election in the runoff round, and he, alongside his supporters, celebrated the victory at his home in Istanbul despite the official election results not being declared yet.

After 99.08% of the votes were counted, Erdogan had 52.07% of the vote, with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu lagging behind at 47.93%.

The Russian, Syrian, and Turkish defense ministers held talks in the Russian capital, Moscow, earlier in December 2022 where they discussed means of resolving the Syrian crisis.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the defense ministers highlighted how the dialogue was constructive, stressing the need for all three parties to hold further talks to bring more stability to Syria and the whole region, the statement added.

On April 4, during a quadripartite meeting of the assistant foreign ministers of Syria, Russia, Iran, and Turkey at the Russian Foreign Ministry's guest palace in Moscow, Syria laid out three conditions for normalizing ties with Turkey.

These include "ending the illegal Turkish presence on Syrian territory, non-interference in the Syrian internal affairs, and combating terrorism in all its forms,” according to SANA.