Russia offers to mediate meeting between Erdogan, Al-Assad: Spokesman
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The Turkish Presidential Spokesperson says Ankara is not closing the door to diplomacy and that Russia has offered to mediate a meeting between the Turkish and Syrian leaders.
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Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin (Anadolu Agency)
Turkish Presidential Spokesperson Ibrahim Kalin said Tuesday that Russia has offered to mediate a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, but the Turkish leader "is not very warm" to this idea yet.
"There is no political ground for a meeting between Erdogan and Assad now, but Ankara is not closing a door to diplomacy," Kalin told Turkish broadcaster 24Tv, adding that Russia has offered to mediate the meeting between the two leaders.
The Turkish President said last week he was ready to meet with his Syrian counterpart when the time was right, noting that there were modest talks between Ankara and Damascus.
"There are intelligence meetings between the both of us currently," Erdogan pointed out in response to a question posed by Al Mayadeen's correspondent to Prague.
"I may meet Al-Assad when the time is right... I am not politically accustomed to absolutely affirming or negating. Of course, we may meet with the Syrian President," he added.
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 within the past few weeks and held several meetings, an indication of Russia's efforts to mediate and ameliorate the decade-long tension between the two geographical neighbors.
"Indeed, low-level talks are underway, and we are talking. But our priority is seeing the terrorist groups being exterminated in northern Syria," Erdogan said.
Last month, Kalin also revealed that there are periodic direct contacts between the Turkish intelligence agencies and their Syrian counterparts for the sake of national interests.
"Currently, there is no political contact with Syria, but as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, our intelligence agencies have periodic contact with their Syrian counterparts to serve our national interests," Kalin told Haberturk.
