"We may give an invitation to [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin and Bashar Assad. If Mr. Putin visits Turkey, this could mark the beginning of a new process," Erdogan told journalists accompanying him on a return flight from Kazakhstan where he attended a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit.
Russia, the main backer of Assad’s regime, is among countries seeking a normalization of Ankara-Damascus ties. Erdogan and Putin met on the sidelines of the summit on Wednesday.
Erdogan did not elaborate when the invitation would be made.
“We have always extended a friendly hand to our neighbor, Syria and we will. We will stand by Syria, which welcomes us on the basis of a fair and inclusive new social contract," said Erdogan, adding, “The winds of peace that will blow in Syria and the climate of peace that will emerge throughout Syria are also required for millions of people to return to their country.”
Iraq and Iran have also mediated between Ankara and Damascus.
When the war erupted in Syria, Erdogan, then prime minister of Turkey, slammed Assad for committing violence against his own people. Erdogan demanded the removal of the Syrian president from power and labeled him a “terrorist.”
Turkey supported anti-Assad rebels in the early years of the civil war, especially in northwest Syria. However, when Russia intervened and Putin threw his support behind Assad, Erdogan began opposing the growing Kurdish dominance in northern Syria.
Turkey has carried out three major military campaigns against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) since 2016 on the grounds that they are affiliated with Kurdish rebels in Turkey, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). The US-backed SDF has denied any formal ties with the PKK.
Erdogan said late last month that there is no reason not to normalize relations with Assad. This remark came days after the Syrian president told a top Russian delegation of his “openness to all initiatives related to the relationship between Syria and Turkey, which are based on the sovereignty of the Syrian state over its entire territory,” according to a statement from his office released at the time.
Assad had previously preconditioned any potential rapprochement with the full withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria.
Syrians rose up against the Assad regime in March 2011, leading to a full-scale civil war that has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and left millions more in need of dire humanitarian assistance.
More than 13 million Syrians, half the country’s pre-war population, have been displaced since the start of the civil war, more than 6 million of whom are refugees who have fled the war-torn country, according to United Nations figures. Millions of Syrians are living in Turkey.
