Assad refuses to meet Erdogan
Making a statement on Syria a week after shaking hands with Egyptian President Sisi last month, President Erdoğan said things could be fixed with Syria, using the phrase “There can be no hard feelings in politics.”
Russia’s special representative for Syria, Aleksander Lavrentyev, emphasized mediation, saying that Russia “always supports the possibility of organizing a meeting” between Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad.
“There will be NO APPROACH BEFORE THE ELECTIONS”
Three officials close to Syria, speaking to Reuters, announced that Assad had turned down an offer to meet Erdogan under Putin’s mediation.
One of the officials said: “Why should we give Erdogan the victory for free? “There will be no rapprochement before the elections,” he said.
He also added that Assad had rejected the idea of a meeting at the level of foreign ministers.
The third source, speaking to Reuters, said Syria “considers such a meeting as useless unless something concrete is brought forward, and what they want so far is the full withdrawal of Turkish troops from the region.”