In yet another move aimed at reconciliation with the Syrian regime, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said he could invite Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to Ankara along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
“We, together with Russian President Vladimir Putin, may have an invitation to Bashar al-Assad,” Erdoğan told journalists on his return flight from the Kazakh capital of Astana, where he attended the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit this week.
“If Mr. Putin can visit Turkey, this could be the beginning of a new period,” Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan and Putin, who is seeking to repair ties between Erdoğan and Assad, met Wednesday on the sidelines of the SCO summit in Astana to discuss bilateral and global issues.
In their first in-person meeting since September, Erdoğan invited Putin to visit Turkey, an offer Putin accepted, affirming his commitment to a future visit.
Turkey cut ties with Syria in 2011 after the outbreak of the civil war, backing opposition groups seeking to overthrow al-Assad. The Turkish leader called Assad a “murderer” in 2017, saying he should be brought to justice before an international tribunal.
Under Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, Ankara has become more aggressive and active in conflicts in the region, supporting proxies.
Turkey and its proxies have seized control of territory inside Syria in several military operations launched since 2016 against the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and Kurdish militia.
Over the years, Erdoğan has softened his stance against Assad and has signaled that a reconciliation with the Syrian president was possible.
In 2022 Erdoğan said that removing Assad from power was no longer a priority for Turkey. Despite high-level talks between Ankara and Damascus brokered by Russia the same year, no significant progress was made.
As part of a broader effort to improve relations with Gulf countries, Turkey is now considering re-establishing ties with Damascus if there is progress on counterterrorism efforts, on the return of more than 3 million Syrian refugees hosted in Turkey and on the political process.
Assad said in March 2023 one day after he met with Putin, that he will only meet with Erdoğan if Turkey withdraws troops from northern Syria.
“[Any meeting] is linked to our reaching the point when Turkey is ready — fully and without any uncertainty — for a complete withdrawal from Syrian territory,” Assad told Russia’s state-run RIA-Novosti news agency.
“This is the only way in which my meeting with Erdoğan could take place,” Assad was quoted as saying back then.
Last week, Erdoğan also said that he would not rule out a possible meeting with al-Assad to help restore bilateral relations between Turkey and Syria.