Iraq aims to host first meeting between Turkey's Erdogan, Syria's Assad
Baghdad is throwing its hat into the ring in hopes of brokering a historic restoration of ties between Turkey and the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus, as Syria's neighbors hope to return refugees back to the war-wracked country.
WASHINGTON – Iraq's government aims to host what would be the first meeting in more than a decade between Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, Iraq's top diplomat confirmed on Friday.
The proposal came after Baghdad received signals of openness to rapprochement from both Ankara and Damascus, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told a small group of journalists in Washington on the sidelines of the NATO summit.
"The Russians also started to talk about mediating between Syria and Turks," Hussein said. "But I have a feeling we are going to invite the two sides in Baghdad, and when I will come back, I'm going to reach out to the my colleague, the Syrian foreign minister, so that we can fix a date."
"Both sides in principle are ready to sit down. And both sides accepted the meditation," he said.
