Erdogan gave his thoughts on meeting the Syrian president and the recent conflict with Greece

The Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his meeting with Syrian President Bashar al Assad will be possible when the time is right.

This came during a press conference held on Thursday evening at the conclusion of his participation in the summit meeting of the European Political Community in the Czech capital Prague.

“When the time is right, we can resort to the option of meeting with the president of Syria,” Erdogan said.

He stressed that there are talks already taking place between the two sides at a low level.

On the other hand, the Turkish president called on the European Union to “stop supporting the illegal steps” taken by Greece and to urge it to dialogue.

This came during a press conference held on Thursday evening at the conclusion of his participation in the summit meeting of the European Political Community in the Czech capital Prague.

He stressed that some EU member states “prefer to escalate tensions and provocation rather than cooperate and have good neighborliness with Türkiye”, referring to Greece.

Erdogan stressed that Türkiye has no greed for the territory or sovereignty of any country, adding: “We’re only fighting to protect the interests of our country and the Turkish Cypriots”.

Erdogan continued, “We don’t want tension with anyone or with any of our neighbors,” adding “We’ve repeatedly said that we want to solve the problems of the eastern Mediterranean and the Aegean Sea within the framework of international law”.

“I expect the European Union in this regard to invite our interlocutors Athens to dialogue with us on a bilateral basis instead of supporting illegal steps under the pretext of solidarity within the bloc,” Erdogan said.

Erdogan pointed out that the only key to resolving the Cyprus issue “is through achieving equality of sovereignty and recognizing the status of the Turkish Cypriots on an equal footing with their Greek counterparts”.

He stated that a permanent solution requires “accepting the facts” on the island of Cyprus, and that Türkiye will continue to take steps in light of these facts.

He explained that Türkiye is ready to cooperate in order to improve its relations with European countries and to make progress in the path of its membership in the European Union.