Physical Address
Indirizzo: Via Mario Greco 60, Buttigliera Alta, 10090, Torino, Italy
Türkiye is prepared to always stand by a united, prosperous and peaceful Syria after a fair, honorable and inclusive agreement, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Friday amid a tentative possibility to restore Turkish-Syrian ties that were cut off at the start of the Syrian civil war more than a decade ago.
“Türkiye has always extended to Syria a hand of friendship and will continue to do so, as long as Syria initiates this embracement and recovers in all senses,” Erdoğan said.
Speaking to reporters on the presidential plane on his way from Kazakhstan to Germany for Türkiye’s Euro 2024 quarterfinal against the Netherlands, Erdoğan argued the recent calm in the field in Syria’s 13-year-long civil war, “smart policies” and an “unprejudiced approach” could carve a path to permanent peace in Türkiye’s southern neighbor.
“If Russian President Vladimir Putin and Assad visit Türkiye per our invitation, it could be the start of a whole new process,” Erdoğan said, referring to Putin’s acceptance of his invitation at the Shanghai Cooperation Summit (SCO) in Astana.
The Turkish president has been floating restoring ties with Damascus since last Friday, days after Assad said Syria 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 has repeatedly assured the regime that they respect that sovereignty while carrying out operations against the PKK/YPG.
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 decades-long 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.
