Erdogan says ‘open’ to meeting with Assad, rejects troops withdrawal from northern Syria
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says Ankara has not closed the door on peace negotiations with Damascus and that he is “open” to a meeting with his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, as part of normalization efforts between the two countries.
Erdogan made the statement on Monday as he spoke to reporters at Ataturk Airport in the Turkish city of Istanbul ahead of his departure for a three-day Persian Gulf tour that would take him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
"We can hold a four-party summit (with Syria, Russia and Iran), and I am also open to a meeting with Assad. What matters here is their approach toward us," the Turkish president said.
Erdogan stressed that Turkey has never "shut the door" to discussions with the Syrian government, adding, however, that Damascus' condition of a complete withdrawal of Turkish forces for such a meeting was "unacceptable.”
Ruling out the possibility of Turkey withdrawing from areas in northern Syria, Erdogan claimed, "We are fighting against terrorism there. How can we withdraw when our country is under continuous threat from terrorists along our border... We expect a fair approach.”
Earlier in the year, the Turkish leader said he may meet Assad as part of a new peace process but the Syrian president announced in March that there was no point in a meeting with Erdogan until Turkey's "illegal occupation" ended.
Turkey severed its relations with Syria in March 2012, a year after the Arab country found itself in the grip of deadly violence waged by foreign-backed militants.
Now, after over a decade, the two neighboring countries are taking steps toward reconciliation.
In the meantime, Turkey deployed forces in Syria in October 2019 in violation of the Arab country’s territorial integrity.
Ankara-backed militants were deployed to northeastern Syria after Turkish military forces launched a long-threatened cross-border invasion in a declared attempt to push militants of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) away from border areas.
Ankara views the US-backed YPG as a terrorist organization tied to the homegrown Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been seeking an autonomous Kurdish region in Turkey since 1984.
The Kurdish-led administration in northeastern Syria says the Turkish offensive has killed hundreds of civilians, including dozens of children, since it started. Turkey has also played a major role in supporting terrorists in Syria ever since major foreign-backed insurgency overtook the country more than ten years ago.
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