Assad rules out Turkey normalization (for now)
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is in no rush to bury the hatchet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
In an interview with Sky News last week, Assad dismissed a meeting with Erdogan, saying it would legitimize Turkey’s occupation of northern Syria.
Turkey maintains an estimated 5,000-10,000 troops in northern Syria and administers via its political and armed Syrian proxy forces about 3,400 square miles of Syrian territory.
