Erdogan may invite Putin and Assad to Turkey for talks on Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara is mulling the possibility of inviting Syrian-Russian counterparts Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin for a dialogue on normalizing Syrian-Turkish relations.

 

“We can start a new process (of normalisation. – ed.) with Syria. We can invite Mr Putin and Bashar al-Assad. If Mr Putin can visit Turkey, it can be the beginning of a new process,” the Turkish leader told his pool reporters on his return from a trip to Kazakhstan for the SCO summit.

According to the politician, the past years have shown that a permanent “settlement mechanism” is needed for Syria. The Turkish president emphasised that it is crucial for the SAR, whose infrastructure has been destroyed and whose population is scattered, to “stand on its feet”.

The Turkish head of state stressed that the current problem is that instability in the region provides “room for manoeuvre for terrorist organisations, especially the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (banned in Turkey. – ed.”) and its Syrian offshoots. At the same time, he noted that Ankara is always ready to “reach out and support Syria.”

“In order to build Syria’s future, it is important to eradicate these terrorist formations in co-operation and without exception. It is important to establish a democratic base in Syria, to ensure an inclusive and dignified peace and to implement approaches based on the territorial integrity of Syria,” – pointed out Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

We shall remind you that earlier Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that the agreements on the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis without involving Russia would have zero result.