Turkish President Recep Erdoğan told reporters on a Sunday flight from Berlin that his country is willing to negotiate with Syrian President Bashar Assad about restoring relations between the two neighboring countries.
Ankara severed ties with the Ba'athist regime at the outbreak of the 2011 Syrian Civil War and has provided support for militias attempting to depose the nation’s 58-year-old dictator.
In addition to the political separation, Turkey has stationed soldiers across Syria’s border, conducted military operations against the area’s Kurdish separatists and Islamic State associates, and accepted more than 3 million refugees that the conflict created.
The comments come as Syrian state media reported last month that Russia’s regional envoy, Alexander Lavrentiev, affirmed Assad’s desire to reestablish a normalization agreement with the West Asian nation.
