Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Saturday that he requested a meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, in a bid to “normalize” relations between their countries.
The two countries severed all official relations in 2011, following the start of the Syrian conflict.
“We have requested to meet Bashar al-Assad in order to normalize relations between Turkey and Syria. We are now awaiting the other party’s response,” the Turkish leader told reporters before taking off to attend the UN General Assembly, where he is scheduled to speak on Monday.
President Erdogan, who had unsuccessfully backed Syrian rebel efforts to overthrow Bashar al-Assad’s regime, has been seeking a rapprochement with him for several months and invited Assad to Turkey, so far without success.
Ankara, which controls vast portions of Syrian territory in the northwest with the support of Syrian rebel factions, hosts over 3.2 million Syrian refugees, according to official UN data, out of a total population of 85 million.
Additionally, Erdogan stated that “Gaza will be at the center” of his discussions in New York: “Turkey wants to play a role in putting an end to the atrocities committed in Gaza,” he said.
“I will raise the common measures that can be taken against the genocide in Gaza and Israel’s aggressive policies.”
According to Erdogan, “Israel’s recent attacks on Lebanon have justified Turkey’s concerns about the risks of the conflict expanding.”
“The international community, especially Western countries, must stop watching Israel’s killings and take deterrent actions”, he added
“As Turkey, we will strive to see what we can do against the storm of death that global Zionism is unleashing in the Middle East.”
“I will discuss with all the leaders I meet how to stop the bloodshed in the Palestinian territories, particularly in Gaza.”
With AFP
