MOSCOW, November 30. /TASS/. Moscow believes there is great value in bringing relations between Damascus and Ankara back to normal, Russia’s presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told TASS on Wednesday.
"While the issue has not been discussed specifically, we insist <…> that we are always ready to respond to constructive proposals, because we believe there is very much sense in ushering in a Syria-Turkey normalization based on the principles of the mutual recognition of sovereignty and territorial integrity of both Syria and Turkey," the senior Russian diplomat said, when asked whether either Ankara or Damascus had requested Moscow’s assistance in arranging a meeting between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad.
On Tuesday, the Hurriyet newspaper reported about backdoor diplomacy underway between Turkey and Syria for arranging a tete-a-tete meeting between the two leaders.