Istanbul (Reuters)
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed a desire to meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad if he attended a summit in Uzbekistan, Turkish newspaper Hurriyet reported yesterday.
But Erdogan indicated that Assad was not participating in the summit.
The report came after four sources said that the head of Turkish intelligence had held several meetings with his Syrian counterpart in Damascus in the past few weeks, in an indication of Russian efforts to thaw the ice between the two countries, which are at odds over the Syrian war.
Abdul Qadir Salafi, a columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper, stated that Erdogan made these statements about Assad at a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development party, which was held behind closed doors last Monday.
My predecessor quoted Erdogan as saying at the party meeting: “I wish Assad had come to Uzbekistan, I would have spoken to him.”
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