Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan stressed on Thursday that Ankara is ready to hold a meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad.
Erdogan had previously expressed his readiness to meet with Assad. Fidan added: “Our president decided that this should happen now.”
Speaking to the Anadolu Agency, the FM said direct and indirect discussions have been ongoing between Ankara and Damascus for some time now.
On Syria, he explained that Türkiye wants an agreement between the government and opposition. The millions of Syrian refugees abroad must also be taken into consideration before relations are normalized between Ankara and Damascus.
“If Türkiye receives a solution that it wants, then Syria will be able to resolve other problems much easily,” he continued.
Türkiye is home to three million Syrian refugees, while five million are displaced in Syria in areas that are not under regime control.
Ankara wants a political solution in Syria to be based on United Nations Security Council resolution 2254. It is also demanding the elimination of terrorist threats and the safe return of refugees and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Meanwhile, an American delegation continued to hold talks in Türkiye for a third day. Discussions focused on the developments in Syria.
The delegation met with Defense Minister Yasar Guler in Ankara. On Tuesday, the delegation met with deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yilmaz.
Turkish sources told Asharq Al-Awsat the talks focused on Turkish-Syrian relations, the political solution in Syria and Washington’s support to the Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and its impact on Türkiye's security.
