Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that reconciliation should be made between the government and the opposition in Syria, repeating statements by his foreign minister last week.
Erdogan considered that his country’s goal in Syria is not to defeat President Bashar al-Assad but to reach a political solution, noting that countries can never exclude political dialogue, according to the Turkish news agency.
Erdogan said: “We have no ambitions in the territory of Syria, and the Syrian people are our brothers, and we attach importance to their territorial integrity, and the regime must realize this.”
Earlier in the day, Erdogan stated that Turkey must take advanced steps with Syria, through which many schemes in this region of the Islamic world could be spoiled, as he put it.
This came in statements made by Erdogan to reporters, on his return trip from Lviv, Ukraine, where he met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
Erdogan indicated that he discussed developments in the Syrian issue with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during their recent meeting in the Russian city of Sochi.
Erdogan expressed his hope that a new Syrian constitution would be drafted as soon as possible during the coming period, calling for the need to take steps to resolve the Syrian crisis.
The Turkish president pointed out that Turkey bears the brunt of the refugee issue on its soil, as it hosts nearly 4 million Syrian refugees, according to his words.
This came after Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed, last week, that he briefly met his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Miqdad, in October in Belgrade.
Recently, Turkish media revealed the desire of some parties close to Erdogan to restore relations with Syria.
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