Turkiye Foreign Minister says likely to meet Syria counterpart early February

Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, said on Thursday that he could meet his Syrian counterpart, Faisal Mekdad, early in February, rejecting reports that the two could meet next week, Reuters reported.

Such a meeting would mark the highest-level talks between Ankara and Damascus since the Syrian war began in 2011, and signal a further thaw in ties.

Speaking on a live broadcast, Cavusoglu said there was no set date for the meeting but it would be held “as soon as possible”.

A senior Turkish official told Reuters on Wednesday that a meeting could be scheduled before the middle of next week, but Cavusoglu said it would not happen that soon.

“We have said before that there were some propositions for a date for next week but that they did not suit us … It could be at the beginning of February, we are working on a date,” he said.

The Turkish top diplomat added that the meeting with his Syrian counterpart, which will be attended by the Russian Foreign Minister, will take place after his meeting with his American counterpart, Antony Blinken, in the United States on 18 January.

The Turkish and Syrian defence ministers held landmark talks in Moscow last month to discuss border security and other issues.

Last week, Turkish President, Tayyip Erdogan, said he may meet Assad after a trilateral foreign ministers meeting to “further enhance communication”.

“We have started a tripartite Russian-Turkish-Syrian process. We will bring our foreign ministers together and then, based on developments, we will meet at the level of leaders,” he said.

READ: US says it is against upgrading relations with Damascus after Turkiye-Russia-Syria talks