Turkey's ruling party considers Assad's conditions to meet Erdogan "inappropriate"

A member of the Central Decision and Implementation Authority of the Turkish "Justice and Development" Party, Orhan Miri Oglu, confirmed today, Friday, that Damascus' conditions regarding negotiations between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are "inappropriate" to normalize relations between the two countries, pointing to the possibility of holding a meeting between them after the elections. Turkish presidential and parliamentary elections scheduled for May 14.

"Al-Assad demands Turkey to withdraw from Syrian territory as a condition for normalizing relations with Turkey. It is not permissible to raise the ceiling of demands in diplomatic relations with the start of the talks if the negotiating parties intend to reconcile, understand and find a solution to the differences," Merioglu said in an interview with "Sputnik" agency.

He continued, "Al-Assad's start to set preconditions for talks with Turkey gives the latter the right to demand that Damascus stop supporting the Syrian Democratic Forces."

He added, "The possibility of a meeting between Erdogan and Assad before the Turkish elections is very low. As for their meeting after the elections, it will become clear according to the results and balances of the elections."

Yesterday, Thursday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said from Russia that "there is no disagreement between the Syrian and Turkish peoples, and the problem lies in the private ambitions of Turkish politicians."

Commenting on the possibility of meeting Erdogan, al-Assad affirmed that the priority is in "the withdrawal of illegal foreign forces, i.e. Turkish and American," noting that "Erdogan's priority is the elections and nothing else. As for Syria, the priority is the withdrawal and restoration of sovereignty."

And the Syrian president added that if the conditions are met, "there is no specific date for Erdogan's meeting, it may be today or tomorrow, and the timing is not a problem."

Last November, Erdogan hinted at the possibility of reconsidering relations with Damascus after the 2023 elections in Turkey, saying: "We can reconsider our relations with the countries with which we face problems, after the elections."

Likewise, the Turkish president said that he is "ready to meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad when the time comes," and he confirmed earlier that "low-level talks with the Syrian side are still on the way."