Turkey: “Erdogan is turning things around” and about the “tyrant” Assad: “My possible meeting with the Syrian president”

“Turns it around” o Tayyip Erdogan (and) for the ever “tyrant” Bashar al-Assad with the wishes of Moscow. The Turkish president said Thursday he may meet his Syrian counterpart as part of a new peace process, after the two countries’ defense ministers met in the highest-level talks between Ankara and the Damascus government since the war in Syria broke out. in 2011.

In a speech in Ankara, Erdogan said the next step, after landmark talks between defense ministers in Moscow, would be a tripartite meeting of the foreign ministers of Turkey, Russia and Syria to further develop contacts.

“We started a process as Russia-Turkey-Syria,” Erdogan said. “We will bring together our foreign ministers and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders.”

Turkey has been the master supporter of the Syrian opposition for more than ten years of war, while Russia has supported the Syrian government.

The conflict, which has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions more and embroiled regional and global forces, is now in its second decade, although the fighting is less intense than in previous years.

With the support of Russia and Iran, the Assad government has regained most of the Syrian territory. Turkish-backed opposition fighters still control an enclave in the northwest, and Kurdish fighters backed by the United States also control territory near the border with Turkey.

A Turkish official said the Turkish and Syrian defense ministers met in Moscow on December 28, with the issues of migration and Kurdish fighters on the agenda.

A re-approach Turkey-Syria seemed unthinkable earlier in the conflict and the Syrian opposition has called on Turkey to reaffirm its support. Ankara sought to reassure the opposition, with Defense Minister Hulusi Akar saying Turkey would not take any step that could cause them trouble.

In early December, Ankara said there were no plans for an immediate meeting between Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad.

“We don’t have an immediate plan for such a meeting, but the president is sending us a message: If you act responsibly, if you address the security concerns and allow the political process to move forward, then I might be willing to take it a step further,” he said. features for Erdogan the representative of the Turkish presidency Ibrahim Kalin in a television interview.

AMPE –

Read the News today and get the latest news.
Follow Skai.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news.