Turkish Foreign Minister: According to President Erdogan… Meeting with Syrian President must take place now

The Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said that, Türkiye is ready to hold a Syrian-Turkish meeting at the level of presidents, coinciding with a US-Turkish meeting taking place in Ankara.

“President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously confirmed his readiness to meet the Syrian president,” Fidan said.

He added, “our president has decided that this must take place now”.

Fidan explained in a press interview he conducted, Thursday, that the talks between Ankara and Damascus have been ongoing, indirectly, for some time, and we have met at various intelligence and military levels.

On July 11, 2024, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he had assigned his Foreign Minister, Hakan Fidan, to work on achieving a path of rapprochement between Syria and Türkiye, stressing that Fidan was working to develop a road map for this path.

On the 24th of the same month, Fidan confirmed that there are steps that Türkiye must take in cooperation with the Syrian state, such as border security, combating terrorism, and the safe return of refugees.

It’s noteworthy that the Syrian side constantly stresses that rapprochement with Ankara requires specific requirements for its success.

On August 28, the Syrian President Bashar al Assad said in a speech before the Syrian People’s Assembly that restoring normal relations with Türkiye is a result of the withdrawal and the elimination of terrorism.

“We didn’t send forces to occupy lands in a neighboring country, and we didn’t support terrorism to kill the people of a neighboring country,” he said.

“The first solution is frankness, not flattery, to identify the location of the error, not stubbornness,” he added.

Assad continued, “what some Turkish officials are saying that Syria said that if the withdrawal doesn’t happen, we won’t meet with the Turks is not true… What is important is that we have clear goals and know how to move towards these goals”.

Few days ago, the Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al Miqdad confirmed that there will be no dealings with the Turkish side until our demands are met.