Turkish President Erdogan Open to Unconditional Meeting With Syria’s Assad

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday declared his willingness to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad with no preconditions. The remarks were made at a press conference in Istanbul just prior to Erdoğan’s setting off for a visit to Saudi Arabia.

The Turkish president said, “We are not closed to a meeting with Bashar Assad.” He did, however, underline Turkey’s ongoing role in northern Syria, countering Assad’s wish for Turkish forces to leave the region. Erdoğan added, “Unfortunately, Assad wants Turkey to get out of northern Syria. There cannot be such a thing because we are countering terrorism there.”

Turkey has been actively involved in the Syrian conflict, launching four significant military operations against the Islamic State group and Syrian Kurdish militias since 2016. The Kurdish forces are seen by Ankara as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers’ Party in Turkey. Currently, Turkey and its allies maintain control over several regions in northwestern Syria.