In the background, the Kremlin and the US elections. According to Turkish and international media, Presidents Erdogan and Assad are ready to restore their relations, which have been broken since the 2011 Syrian civil war, when Ankara supported the forces they wanted to overthrow Assad. The former allies and then bitter enemies seem ready to turn the page.

In his statements yesterday, after the Friday prayer, the Turkish president answered journalists about the progress of Turkish-Syrian relations and President Assad’s statement that his government is open to normalization initiatives, on the condition that Turkey recognizes national sovereignty of Syria and will contribute to the fight against terrorism.

In the general context of Turkey’s normalization of relations with the states of the region, President Erdogan now appears open to a possible meeting with the Syrian president to work towards improving relations with his neighbors.

“Ankara and Damascus could act to restore their ties,” the Turkish president said. “There is no reason why something like this should not happen,” he said and added that Turkey has no intention of interfering in Syria’s internal affairs.

The role of Moscow

“Just as we kept our ties very alive in the past – we even had talks between our families with Mr Assad – it is certainly not possible (to say) that this will not happen again in the future. It can happen and we can never have any vision or goal, such as meddling in the internal affairs of Syria,” said the Turkish president.

Russia also appears to have played a role in the whole process, as the message to Erdogan from Assad was delivered through Russia’s envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentiev, during his meeting in Damascus with Assad last Wednesday.

Analysts believe that there will be rapid reconciliation steps from now on, although they point out that everything will depend on the American elections and the policy that the new American president will follow in Syria.