Meeting Date Between President Erdoğan and Assad Revealed

Critical information has emerged about the upcoming meeting between President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syrian President Bashar Assad. After Assad's surprise visit to Moscow to meet with Putin, details have surfaced regarding when he will meet with Erdoğan.

When the Syrian civil war began, Erdoğan referred to Assad as "my brother Assad," but later called him "murderer Assad" and supported groups like the FSA against Assad. CHP leader Özgür Özel recently criticized the government's Syria policy and stated, "We are engaging with Syria through a sympathetic channel, backdoor diplomacy. I plan to meet with Assad this summer."

Responding to this criticism, Erdoğan said, "There is no reason for not establishing relations. We will cooperate with Syria as we did in the past. We have no intention of interfering in Syria's internal affairs. We have met with Mr. Assad in the past, even at family levels. There is nothing stopping us from doing it again."

According to a report in Türkiye Gazetesi, intelligence agencies from Turkey and Syria have held three critical meetings over the past month as part of the normalization process. A notable visit was made by Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service, to Ankara. Naryshkin held consultations with MİT President İbrahim Kalın regarding the Erdoğan-Assad summit, finalizing the details of the meeting.

Sources in the capital indicate that the meeting between Erdoğan and Assad could take place at any moment, with a high likelihood of occurring by August. Initially, Iraq was considered as the meeting venue, but now Ankara is focusing on the Kesep Gate at the Turkey-Syria border. It is also noted that Russian President Putin may participate in this meeting.