Erdoğan says he hopes rebel advance in Syria continues ‘without incident’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday said he wanted an Islamist-led rebel advance in Syria to “continue without incident,” believing that their objective is Damascus, Agence France-Presse reported.

Erdoğan also said he had never received a response from Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad to hold reconciliation talks.

“So far Idlib, Hama and Homs and of course the objective, Damascus: the advance of the opponents continues. We hope this advance continues without incident,” said Erdoğan.

Syria, which has a long border with Turkey, has become a new focus of international concern as the rebel forces take a series of cities from Assad’s troops.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will meet counterparts from Russia and Iran in Qatar on Saturday to discuss the Syria civil war, a foreign ministry source said. The meeting will be held on the sidelines of the Doha Forum.

Erdoğan was long a supporter of the Syrian opposition after the civil war erupted in 2011 but had tried, with Russian mediation, to reconcile with Assad in recent months.

On the topic of relations with Assad, the Turkish leader said there was no answer to his offer of talks.

“I told him ‘Come, let’s meet to discuss the future of Syria together.’ But I never had a positive response from Assad,” Erdoğan said.

Turkey has a long border with Syria and has become home to about 3 million Syrian refugees since 2011.