Assad welcomes ‘all initiatives’ to mend ties with Turkey

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday said that he is open to “all initiatives” regarding mending ties with neighboring Turkey, after previously demanding Ankara’s military withdrawal from Syria as a prerequisite for any talks.

Assad received Russian President Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy for Syria Alexander Lavrentiev in Damascus on Wednesday and expressed his “openness to all initiatives related to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, which are based on the sovereignty of the Syrian state over its entire territory,” according to a statement from his office. 

Russia has acted as a mediator between Ankara and Damascus to help the neighbors reach a rapprochement.

In May last year, a meeting between the foreign ministers of Russia, Iran, Turkey and Syria was held in Moscow to draft a roadmap to improve strained ties between Ankara and Damascus. It marked the first official meeting of their top diplomats since the start of the Syrian civil war.

When the war erupted in Syria, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey, slammed Assad for committing violence against his own people. Erdogan demanded the removal of the Syrian president from power and labelled him a “terrorist,” but he later toned down his demands, instead seeking a rapprochement. 

Turkey and its Syrian proxies control swathes of Syrian land in the north, including the Kurdish towns of Afrin, Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain) and Gire Spi (Tal Abyad), seized during military incursions against Kurdish forces in Syria. It has recently threatened a new offensive, accusing Syrian Kurds of having ties with rebels in Turkey. 

Erdogan said in July last year that he had not closed the door for talks with Assad, but declined to withdraw from Syria.

“Right now in Syria, Assad, unfortunately, wants Turkey to leave northern Syria. Such a thing cannot happen,” he said. “It is all about the way they approach us.”

Days later, in a rare televised interview with Sky News Arabia, Assad said that he was not willing to meet Erdogan unless Turkish troops leave Syria. 

“Why would I and Erdogan meet? To drink refreshments?” he said. “Our goal is [Turkey’s] withdrawal from Syrian territory, while Erdogan’s goal is to legitimize the presence of Turkey’s occupation in Syria.”