Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Syrian President Bashar al Assad is following from the stands the steps taken within the Turkish-Russian-Iranian-Syrian formula regarding normalization between Ankara and Damascus.
Regarding the tensions in Deir al Zour region, Erdogan expressed his opinion that the Arab tribes are the original inhabitants of those areas, describing the Kurdish organizations as a terrorist that doesn’t recognize people’s rights and receives support from some countries.
Erdogan stressed that terrorists uses violence and massacres to control the oil areas in Deir al Zour, which contributes to the continuation of conflict and unrest in the region and leads to the division of Iraq and Syria.
Clashes started at the beginning of last week, caused an escalation of tensions between the Syria Democratic Forces and the local Arab tribes, which launched protest attacks against the SDF after it dismissed its leader in the Deir al Zour Military Council.
In addition, pro-Turkish fighters led attacks against SDF-controlled areas in the north of the country.
However, the SDF confirmed that it had no differences with the Arab tribes, and that it had cooperated with them in a battle against the ISIS in the past.
As for a possible meeting between the Turkish President and Syrian President, the Syria president Bashar al Assad expressed his willingness to meet without preconditions, but indicated the need for a clear goal for the meeting to lead to positive results.
He emphasized that his goal is to withdraw the Turkish forces from the Syrian lands, while Erdogan believes that the presence of the Turkish forces in Syria is legitimate.
Regarding the statements made by Erdogan regarding the continuation of the Turkish presence in Syria as long as there is a terrorist threat, Assad replied that the terrorist organizations present in Syria are the result of Turkish intervention and funding by Türkiye, and therefore Erdogan cannot talk about a terrorist threat threatening his country.
