Erdogan, Assad may meet at SCO summit in Uzbekistan

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan to the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), which will be held in September in Samarkand.

Putin also invited Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to the summit. Erdogan and Assad may hold a bilateral meeting in Uzbekistan, the Iranian Tasnim news agency reported, citing sources.

According to the agency, the leader of the Turkish Patriotic [Vatan] Party, Dogu Perincek, will soon travel as part of a delegation to Syria, where he will meet and hold talks with Bashar al-Assad. Several former ministers and "veterans of Turkish diplomacy" will travel with Perincek. The exact number of participants and the composition of the delegation are not given. A report on the trip will be submitted to the Turkish authorities.

According to Tasnim, the Turkish delegation will be delivered on a special 12-seater plane, and this will be the first departure from a Turkish airport to Damascus in 10 years (direct flights between the two countries have not been operated since 2011). During the meeting, it is planned to discuss the restoration of relations, the joint fight against terrorism in northern Syria and the return of refugees. According to the agency, if this meeting is "positive", it is possible that the presidents of Türkiye and Syria will meet on the sidelines of the upcoming SCO meeting.

The Turkish newspaper Türkiye reported in early August that Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad could hold telephone talks. The leaders of the two countries have not communicated since 2011. The Turkish Foreign Ministry denied information about the upcoming negotiations. The head of the diplomatic department, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said that direct contacts with Syria are now "out of the question".

On August 8, Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his intention to clear the "last district" of Syria from terrorists in the near future. He warned that Türkiye was ready to launch a new military operation in northern Syria. The PKK terrorists and the Syrian authorities are developing a defence plan in case of new steps on the part of Türkiye.