Assad is open to meetings with Erdogan if it leads to results
**After the Turkish announcement about the end of the military intervention in Syria, the Syrian ruler Bashar al-Assad has openly expressed his readiness for a meeting with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If such a meeting "yields results" and serves the interests of his country, then "I will do it", Assad told journalists in Damascus on Monday. The problem is "the content of the meeting", he added.
Erdogan had signaled at the beginning of July for a rapprochement with Assad and extended an invitation to Ankara. Turkey had broken off relations with its neighbor Syria after the start of the civil war in 2011. The conflict has so far claimed the lives of more than 500,000 people and displaced millions of Syrians.
Erdogan supported rebels at the beginning of the war who wanted to overthrow Assad. However, he changed course in recent years. High-ranking representatives of both countries met last year for Russia-mediated talks. Since 2016, Turkey has attempted to drive out the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) from northern Syria in several ground offensives. Pro-Turkish forces now control large parts of the Syrian border area.
Assad called "supporting terrorism and the withdrawal from Syrian sovereignty" the "core of the problem". He is open to any initiative to improve relations, "but that doesn't mean we'll go without rules", he said.
Erdogan announced on Saturday the impending end of the Turkish intervention against the fighters of the outlawed Workers' Party of Kurdistan (PKK) in northern Iraq and Syria. The Kurds are now unable to "operate within our borders", he said. Turkey launched a military operation in April 2022 to secure its border with northern Iraq. Ankara accused Kurdish separatists of attacking Turkish territory from there.
After Assad expressed his readiness for a meeting with Erdogan following the Turkish announcement, Erdogan reiterated his invitation for a rapprochement from July. Despite supporting rebels who sought to overthrow Assad at the beginning of the war, Erdogan has changed his stance and is now open to discussions.
