The head of its largest party Turkish opposition sent a letter of condolence to the Syrian president Bashar al-Assadwhose country suffered major devastation from the February 6 earthquake, stressing that he sympathizes with the lives lost.

“As this disaster and the pain we experienced show once again, we are partners and neighbors in grief, sharing the common pain of our peoples» writes Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of the Republican People’s Party (CHP) in this rare communication with Assad.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit southern Turkey and northern Syria has killed more than 49,000 people in both countries and left millions homeless.

“Therefore, I take this opportunity to express my condolences to you and your people and hope that in the future we will not share our sorrows but our hopes“, he added.

There are no regular contacts between the Turkish opposition and Assad, but Kilicdaroglu urged Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan “not to start a war» with Syria and CHP officials called on the government to start a dialogue with Damascus.

After providing military and political support to the Syrian armed opposition for a decade and sending Turkish forces into parts of northern Syria, Erdogan said in early January that he might meet with Assad. The defense ministers of the two countries met in late 2022 and these were the first talks between Ankara and Damascus at such a high level since 2011.

Turkey hosts more than 3.6 million Syrian refugees, who are becoming increasingly unwanted amid the country’s economic crisis. Erdogan has talked about “returning” some refugees to their homeland, but neither he nor the opposition has spelled out how that could be done safely.

Russia has helped Assad turn the tide in his favor and says it is seeking a political solution to the crisis and wants talks between Turkey and Syria to begin. In mid-January, however, Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said that Turkey should end its military presence in his country in order to achieve a full rapprochement.