Erdoğan meets Pashinyan, says may meet Assad as well

Photos: AA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan met Armenia's Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan yesterday (October 6) in what was the first meeting of the government leaders of the two countries in 13 years.

The closed-door meeting was held on the sidelines of the first European Political Community summit in Prague.

Earlier, Erdoğan, Pashinyan, and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev had a brief conversation at the foyer ahead of the summit of the pan-European leaders' platform to discuss common challenges.

Erdoğan, Aliyev, Pashinyan and Humgary's PM Viktor Orban.

The president also had brief meetings with the premiers of the UK, Czechia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Spain, as well as the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

Later holding a press conference, Erdoğan touched on a range of issues, including normalization efforts with Armenia and Syria.

There was a "warm atmosphere" during his meeting with Pashinyan, he said, noting that the normalization talks have been going on through the special envoys of the two countries.

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He did not give detailed information about what they discussed with Pashinyan, but said "there were some new demands" and the special envoys and the foreign ministers had been assigned to work on them.

Once Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a peace treaty, Türkiye will take steps to open land borders, as well as railways and airways between the two countries, he said.

In late 2021, Ankara and Yerevan mutually appointed special representatives to normalize ties. In July, Erdoğan and Pashinyan had a phone conversation following the third meeting of the representatives.

Normalization with Syria

Türkiye has also been working to reestablish ties with the government of Syria, after supporting the armed groups that tried to topple President Bashar Assad for years.

When asked whether he would meet Assad, given that Türkiye's partnership with Russia has not changed because of its war with Ukraine, Erdoğan left the door open for a meeting.

"As of now, such a thing is out of the question. But I'm not an ordinary politician in terms of using an expression like 'it is not possible'," he remarked. "So, when the time comes, we may meet with the president of Syria."

"Currently, meetings are being held at lower levels," he noted, adding that Türkiye "wishes Syria to be cleared of terrorist groups," apparently referring to the Kurdish-led groups in the country's north.

"Of course, the Russia-Ukraine war kind of delayed the steps to be taken in the region. Because, Russia has an effective role in the events in Syria. Iran has an effective role. On the other hand, the coalition forces have an effective role.

"Of course, the coalition forces, most notably America, provide serious arms, ammunition, and equipment support to the terrorist groups. When the time comes, our officials will meet America's officials ... we always ask them to clear both the northeast and north of Syria from the terrorist groups."

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After years of adversary relations between Ankara and Damascus, Foreign Minister Çavuşoğlu revealed in August that he had met his counterpart from Syria, Faisal Mikdar, in Belgrade in October 2021.

After visiting President Vladimir Putin of Russia in Sochi in August, Erdoğan implied that Moscow would give the green light to Türkiye for a new military operation into the Kurdish-controlled parts of northern Syria if it reconciled with the Assad government.

Erdoğan has long insisted that Türkiye needs to create a 30-kilometer buffer zone in Syria and Iraq along the two countries' borders with Türkiye to prevent threats from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). (VK)