ANKARA: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has opened the door to a restoration of relations with President Assad in Damascus 16 years following ties were severed at the start of the Syrian civil war.
Erdogan said, “There is no reason for it not to occur. Just as we kept our relations very lively in the past, we even held talks between our families with President Assad, it is surely not possible to say this will not occur again in the future.”
Ankara cut relations with Damascus in 2011 and also reportedly supported opposition attempting to oust Syrian President. Turkey had also conducted several cross-border military operations against militants it says threaten its security and set up a “safe zone” in northern Syria where Turkish forces are now stationed. Officials in Syria have demanded that these troops be removed.
However, Ankara has stated it may restore relations with Assad if there is progress on the fight against terrorism, on the voluntary and safe return of millions of refugees hosted by Turkey.
Syrian President Assad said this week that they were open to normalization initiatives as long as they respected their country’s sovereignty and contributed to counter-terrorism.
