Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan stated that he may extend an invitation to Syrian regime leader Bashar al-Assad to visit Turkey along with Russian President Vladimir Putin, considering that this could mark the beginning of a new process.
In remarks made today, Friday, July 5, and reported by Turkish media including the semi-official Anadolu Agency, Erdoğan said, “We have always extended the hand of friendship to our neighbor Syria and we embrace it on the basis of a new, fair, and comprehensive social contract,” as he put it.
Erdoğan added that it is essential for Syria, whose infrastructure has been destroyed and whose people have been displaced, to stand on its feet again and end the state of instability.
Erdoğan spoke about the need to eliminate what he called “terrorist structures” to build Syria’s future, emphasizing the importance of building Syria’s democratic infrastructure, ensuring comprehensive and honorable peace, and addressing all these matters based on Syria’s territorial integrity.
“The winds of peace that will blow in Syria and the climate of peace that will prevail throughout Syria are necessary for the return of millions of people spread across various countries to their homeland,” Erdoğan added.
He continued, “We will stand by a prosperous, united, and complete Syria (…) as long as Syria takes this big embrace and recovers in every area,” according to Turkish media reports.
Erdoğan discussed opposition to normalization with Damascus from organizations such as the “Kurdistan Workers’ Party” (PKK), the “Democratic Union Party” (PYD), the “People’s Protection Units” (YPG), and the “Islamic State,” as he put it.
On July 3, the Turkish President addressed the Syrian issue and the matter of seeking a solution to the tension in Syria and “combating terrorism” during his meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the 24th Summit of the Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Astana, Kazakhstan.
Erdoğan stressed his country’s rejection of the establishment of a “terrorist organization” outside its borders, specifically in Syria (referring to the “Autonomous Administration” of northeastern Syria), and emphasized the importance of ending the instability that creates a fertile ground for “terrorist organizations,” including the “civil war.”
In the same context, Erdoğan expressed his country’s readiness to cooperate to reach a solution, according to Turkish media, including “TRT Haber.”
On July 2, the Turkish President said that there is great benefit in opening clenched fists in both foreign and domestic policy, “and we will not shy away from meeting with anyone, as was the case in the past,” referring to the approach of rapprochement with the Syrian regime.
Erdoğan added, “In doing so, we will take Turkey’s interests into account first, but we will not allow anyone who trusts us, resorts to us, or works with us to be a victim in this process. Turkey is not and will not be a country that abandons its friends” (referring to the Syrian opposition).