Erdogan, Assad to meet at Yayladagi-Kasab border crossing in August: Report
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad are expected to meet next month, as the two neighboring states are taking steps towards normalization of diplomatic ties after over a decade of hiatus.
The Turkish-language newspaper Türkiye, citing government sources, reported on Saturday that the two heads of state will likely meet sometime in August at the Yayladagi-Kasab border gate.
The report added that the two leaders were initially supposed to have a meeting in Iraq, but they are now going to meet up at the border crossing between Turkey’s southernmost Hatay province and the western Syrian province of Latakia.
Türkiye noted that intelligence authorities involved in the potential rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus have held three meetings recently.
In a related development, Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), the main successor to the KGB's First Main Directorate, lately had a meeting with Ibrahim Kalin, the director of Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT).
The two officials exchanged viewpoints concerning the date and venue of the Erdogan-Assad meeting.
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, including those allegedly supported by Ankara.
The process of normalizing ties between Ankara and Damascus kicked off on December 28, 2022, when the Russian, Syrian and Turkish defense ministers met in Moscow, in what was the highest-level meeting between the two sides since the outbreak of the Syria conflict.
Since 2016, Turkey has conducted three major ground operations against US-backed militants based in northern Syria.
The Turkish government accuses the US-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militants of bearing ties with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) militant group.
Syria considers the Turkish presence on its soil to be illegal, saying it reserves the right to defend its sovereignty against the occupying forces.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has tied rapprochement with Turkey to Ankara’s ending occupation of the northern parts of the Arab country and its support for militant groups wreaking havoc and fighting against the Damascus government.
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