Milliyet: The long-anticipated meeting between Erdogan and Assad might take place on the sidelines of BRICS summit in Russia next month
The Turkish Milliyet newspaper, which is close to the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, expected that the first meeting between the Turkish and Syrian presidents, Bashar al Assad, in more than a decade, may be held next month.
Milliyet stated that the possible meeting may take place during the BRICS summit scheduled in Kazan in October or shortly thereafter.
Despite these expectations, the Turkish presidential office confirmed that there is no official agreement between Ankara and Damascus to hold this meeting at the BRICS summit.
According to Russian Novosti news agency who quoted a source in the Turkish presidency, “No agreement has been reached on this issue yet”.
Erdogan renewed his readiness to meet with Assad last Saturday, indicating that Türkiye is awaiting a response from the Syrian side.
Erdogan explained to reporters, before heading to the United States to participate in the United Nations General Assembly, that he wants to hold this meeting in order to move forward in normalizing relations between Türkiye and Syria.
The Turkish president also indicated that he has assigned Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to organize this meeting with Assad, suggesting that the meeting will likely take place in a third country.
