Erdogan open to extending an 'invitation' to Syria's Assad to forge warmer ties

Mr Erdogan expressed a willingness to allow Russia and Iraq to mediate closer relations

Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Mr Erdogan has said he is open to 'invite' Mr Assad to restore relation to their former self, before the Syria civil war broke out in 2011. Reuters/ AFPShow less

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed his willingness for a rapprochement with Syria's Bashar Al Assad, and the restoration of relations to "how they were in the past".

He was speaking to reporters on a flight back from Berlin on Sunday after attending the Euro 2024 quarter-final between Turkey and the Netherlands.

"We have now come to such a point that if Bashar Al Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkey, we will show that approach towards him," Mr Erdogan said, adding that there are more than three million Syrian refugees in his country.

"We will make our invitation," he said.

The "invitation" will bring Turkish-Syrian relations "to the same point as in the past", Mr Erdogan said.

Relations between the two countries were severed in 2011, when a civil war broke out after the Damascus regime brutally suppressed anti-Assad protests.

Since then, millions of Syrian refugees sought safety in countries including Turkey, Jordan and Egypt. Turkey has been fighting Kurdish militia operating in Syria on its southern border and has Turkish troops and allied Syrian forces in a "safe zone" it created along a 115km long border.

Earlier this month, The National had reported that a push by Iraq for warmer ties between Turkey and Syria has been facing challenges, particularly when it comes to dealing with the Kurdish militia groups in Syria and the return of refugees to the country.

Syria has insisted that Turkey must pull out its troops for any normalisation to occur.

During his remarks, Mr Erdogan also expressed openness to having Russia and Iraq facilitate conversations between himself and Mr Al Assad.

"[Vladimir] Putin and the Iraqi prime minister have an approach for talks to be in Turkey. We are talking about mediation everywhere, why not with our neighbour?" state news agency Anadolu reported him as saying.

Mediation efforts by Iraq had been "warmly welcomed" by Syria and Turkey, an Iraqi foreign ministry official told The National, adding that a meeting between officials from both sides could happen soon.

Mr Erdogan's comments came after a recent spate of attacks on Syrian refugees in Turkey and attacks on Turkish garrisons and interests in the Ankara-controlled area of Syria.