The Turkish presidency deny information about a possible meeting between Erdogan Assad in Moscow
Ankara denied reports that there were plans to hold a meeting soon between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al Assad, in Moscow, mediated by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Turkish presidency said on Saturday, there is no information about any upcoming meeting between Erdogan and Assad.
The Turkish writer and journalist on the Habertürk channel, Çetinar Çetin, had previously reported that Putin, during his visit to Türkiye soon, would discuss the possibility of holding a meeting between Erdogan and Assad in Moscow.
Earlier, Turkish Aydınlık newspaper reported that, a meeting between Erdogan and Assad to be hold in the near future in the Russian capital, with Putin’s support, noting that setting the final date for this meeting will be based on the results of Putin’s scheduled visit to Türkiye.
Aydınlık newspaper indicated that this possible meeting comes in the context of developing relations with Damascus, as the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs is holding meetings at the Antalya Diplomatic Forum to discuss political and diplomatic issues.
It’s noteworthy that the Turkish President announced last September that Assad would follow the Turkish-Russian-Iranian-Syrian steps towards normalization between Ankara and Damascus.
On the same context, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that normalization steps between Türkiye and Syria have now become “not possible” against the backdrop of the situation in the Gaza Strip.
Lavrov added in a press conference following the Antalya Diplomatic Forum, “We confirm our interest in normalizing relations between Syria and Türkiye… We’ve worked on this and are continuing to do so, but practical steps now aren’t possible against the backdrop of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories, as this directly affects all participants in this process”.
Lavrov continued, “I mean the bombing launched by the Americans on certain targets belonging to the pro-Iranian forces and the bombing of Iraq, Syria and Yemen”.
He pointed out that such events affect the focus and interest in continuing efforts to advance normalization with the participation of the Russian side between Syria and Türkiye.
