Greater Middle East (bbabo.net), - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his readiness to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. This was reported by the Al-Sharq TV channel on November 24. “There are no eternal contradictions,” Erdogan said, “I can meet with Assad, because there is no constant rivalry in politics, and we will take our steps in this regard.”

According to Abdulkadir Selvi, a Turkish columnist for the Hurriyet newspaper, the meeting between Erdogan and Assad is simply "a matter of time." According to him, it could be held before the elections scheduled in Turkey for June next year, probably through the mediation of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As reported by bbabo.net, earlier the Turkish President had a short meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Qatar on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the World Cup. It is noteworthy that in 2019, Erdogan said that he would never meet with a man like President al-Sisi. The meeting between the presidents of Turkey and Egypt was organized by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

Erdogan's ally in the ruling coalition, the head of the Turkish Nationalist Movement Party, Devlet Bahceli, said on the eve that it is not worth dwelling on Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and it is also necessary to create the ground for dialogue with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

As Turkish sources noted back in the summer, Russian leader Vladimir Putin approached Erdogan with a proposal to hold negotiations to start a telephone conversation with Assad during a meeting of the two presidents in Sochi.

The policy of "détente" in relations with Egypt and Syria is most likely of domestic political significance: the upcoming election race promises to be quite problematic for the country's ruling elite, so Erdogan needs achievements in the foreign policy arena.

bbabo.ℵet