“As of now such a meeting is not on the agenda. But I cannot say it is impossible for me to meet with Assad. When the right time comes, we can also meet the President of Syria,” Erdoğan said at a news conference during the Informal EU 27 Summit and Meeting within the European Political Community at Prague Castle in Prague, Czech Republic.

Since the start of Syrian Civil War, relations between Syria and Turkey greatly deteriorated. The Syrian conflict began to impact Turkey when at least Syrian refugees fled Syria as a consequence of such incidents as Syrian army operation in the country in June 2011.

Erdoğan described to Anadolu Agency, his feeling that "They are not acting in a humane manner. This is savagery."

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu met with Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad at the Non-Aligned Movement summit in October 2021, and relations between the two countries' intelligence agencies were resumed.

Cavusoglu publicly announced this in August and called for reconciliation between the Syrian government and the opposition. (ILKHA)