Assad insists that a meeting with Erdogan must address the withdrawal of Turkish forces from northern Syria

15 Jul. () –

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has expressed his openness to meeting his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in order to improve bilateral relations, although he has insisted that the meeting should address the withdrawal of Turkish forces from the north of the country, a position rejected by Ankara.

“What is the problem with supporting terrorism and withdrawing from Syrian territory? (…) If there is no discussion on this, what is the point of a meeting?” he asked in statements to the press after voting in Damascus in the framework of the parliamentary elections in the areas under government control.

The Syrian president has described the “occupation” as “abnormal”, referring to the presence of Turkish military forces in northern Syria in their fight against the Kurdish-Syrian militia of the People’s Protection Units (YPG), considered to be related to the Kurdish-Turkish armed group Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), declared a terrorist organisation by Ankara.

Al Assad has indicated that he welcomes any initiative to improve bilateral relations “positively”, although he has asserted that this does not imply that they will meet “without a set of rules”, according to the SANA news agency.

This comes after the Iraqi government announced on Saturday that it plans to host talks between Turkey and Syria to help normalise relations between the two neighbours after a rift lasting more than a decade.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry had already indicated in a statement over the weekend that any such initiative must begin with the “withdrawal of the forces illegally present on Syrian territory and of the combatant groups.”

Erdogan, for his part, rejected this proposal. “I am not opposed to talking to Bashar al-Assad, but what matters is his position. Al-Assad wants Turkey to leave northern Syria. It is off the table. We are fighting terrorism there,” he said.

Relations between Ankara and Damascus deteriorated following the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2011. Turkey supported opposition insurgents seeking to overthrow Assad. Since then, Turkey has launched military operations in its neighbouring country and also in northern Iraq.