Today, Syrian President Bashar Assad blamed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the increase in violence in Syria and insisted on the withdrawal of Turkish forces from his country.
"Terrorism in Syria is made in Turkey," Assad said in an interview with Sky News Arabia.
Turkey is backing armed opposition groups trying to oust Assad and has launched three major incursions into northern Syria since 2016. Turkish forces control parts of northern Syria.
Assad, backed by Russia and Iran, has managed in recent years to regain most of the territory with the help of his allies and to turn the tide of the war in his favor. Syrian rebels and Turkish-backed opposition forces now hold only a small part of northwestern Syria, where fighting and violence continued.
Assad also denied rumors about a possible meeting between him and Erdogan despite the meetings of the defense and foreign ministers of Turkey and Syria to restore strained ties, which was organized with Russian and Iranian mediation.
Damascus believes that Ankara must propose a timetable for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria in order to normalize relations. In May, ministers agreed to set out a "road map" to improve relations.
In recent months, Syria has improved relations with some countries that have supported the opposition since the country's civil war broke out in 2011.
Thus, for the first time in more than a decade, Assad participated in the Arab League summit in May hosted by Saudi Arabia. However, the US opposes normalization with Damascus without a political solution to the conflict.
Assad said that the dialogue between Damascus and Washington, which began several years ago and was sporadic, "has not led to any results." He claims that Damascus managed "in various ways" to overcome US sanctions.
In the civil war in Syria, half a million people died, more than a million were wounded, large parts of the country were destroyed and almost half of the pre-war population of 23 million was displaced, mostly to neighboring countries, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.
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