When asked about a Turkish report that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian leader Bashar Assad would hold talks in Moscow, the Kremlin on Tuesday said Russia would like to see the two countries repair their relations.
Daily Sabah on Monday cited an unnamed source familiar with the issue as saying that such a meeting could take place in August and that Russian President Vladimir Putin would mediate the talks.
Assad, a close Russian ally, said in July that he would only meet Erdoğan if the two countries could focus on the core issues of Ankara’s support for “terrorism” in reference to Ankara’s endorsement of the Syrian opposition and the pullout of Turkish forces from Syrian territory.
When asked about the possibility of a forthcoming Erdoğan-Assad meeting in the Russian capital, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said: “The issue of facilitating the organization of certain contacts between Turkish and Syrian representatives at various levels is really on the agenda.
“Many countries, and of course, Russia as a country that plays a significant role in the region, are interested in helping the two countries to establish relations. This is very important for the whole region.”
Peskov did not confirm that a Moscow meeting would take place however and said he was unable to offer more information on the subject for now.
Erdoğan said recently that Türkiye and Syria would determine a road map to revive long-frozen relations between the two neighbors and would take steps accordingly. He said he had instructed Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to meet with Assad first to start repairing relations.
For the first time since relations soured over unrest that began in Syria in 2011, Erdoğan earlier this month said Türkiye will extend a formal invitation to Assad, who was once a close friend. His invitation came after the Syrian leader last month said Damascus was open to all initiatives to revive Turkish-Syrian relations “as long as they are based on respecting the sovereignty of the Syrian state over all its territory and fighting all forms of terrorism.”
Türkiye repeatedly declared that its support for the Syrian opposition’s armed forces primarily aims to ensure a terror-free northern Syria immediately across the Turkish border, which suffered several cross-border attacks by the PKK in the past, and that it respects Syria’s sovereignty.
The Damascus-based regime and Ankara sought reconciliation in 2023 with talks sponsored by Assad’s main backers, Russia and Iran, but so far, meetings of Turkish and Syrian regime ministers have failed to produce a solid result in normalization.
Turkish-Syrian relations saw a decline in 1998 when Türkiye accused Syria of supporting the PKK, a terrorist group responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in its decadeslong terror campaign against Türkiye.
Tensions further escalated in 2011 due to the start of the Syrian civil war and a subsequent influx of migrants numbering over 4 million.
