Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday said he might invite his Syrian counterpart, Bashar Al-Assad, to Turkey "at any moment", in a sign of reconciliation after the 2011 war broke ties between Ankara and Damascus, AFP reported.
"We may send an invitation (to Assad) at any moment," Erdogan told journalists aboard a plane from Berlin, the official Anadolu news agency and other media reported.
Upon the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011, Erdogan was continuously openly critical of Assad. He several times called on the Syrian president to resign and, in August of 2013, he said that the goal of any military intervention in Syria should be to topple Assad’s regime.
Turkey, however, has toned down its demands since it started working with Assad’s allies Russia and Iran on a political resolution.
More recently, Ankara has shifted focus to preventing what Erdogan in 2019 dubbed a "terror corridor" from opening up in northern Syria.
He has long said he could reconsider ties with Assad as his government is working to ensure safe and voluntary return of Syrian refugees.
Speaking to journalists, Erdogan said some leaders including Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested to mediate a meeting with Assad in Turkey.
"Now we have come to such a point that as soon as Bashar al-Assad takes a step towards improving relations with Turkey, we will show him the same approach," Erdogan said, according to AFP.
Turkish authorities this week detained over 470 people after anti-Syrian riots in several cities sparked by accusations that a Syrian man had allegedly harassed a Syrian minor in Kayseri.