CAIRO, August 25. /TASS/. Relations between Syria and Turkey cannot be restored without settling problems that caused their severance, Syrian President Bashar Assad said.

"Amid the current global crisis <…> we tried to consider all the initiatives proposed to us in the context of restoring relations with Turkey as soon as possible and in a positive manner. But no problem can be resolved if it real causes are ignored and relations cannot be restore without settling the problem that caused their reverence," the SANA news agency quoted him as saying in his address to the new People’s Assembly (parliament).

According to Assad, to settle the conflict, the sides need to be open and sincerely want to find out what hampers the restoration of relations. The Turkish side, in his words, "continues to persist" in this matter. He recalled that the initiatives on the normalization of relations between Damascus and Ankara he mentioned had come from Russia, Iran, and Iraq.

"Syria will not waive its rights at any talks," the Syrian president stressed, adding that current non-direct consultations between his country and Turkey lack "fundamental principles the sides might be guided by in the negotiating process." The cornerstone for Damascus on this issue is "Turkey’s withdrawal from the Syrian territory and its non-support for terrorist groups," as well as demonstration of respect to Syria’s sovereignty, Assad stressed.

Speaking with voters at a polling station in Damascus on July 15, Assad said that Syria welcomed all initiatives that are geared toward normalizing relations with Turkey, but would make this step only if the principles of international law are observed. He said back then that he did not know why his Turkish counterpart wanted to meet with him.

On June 28, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Ankara was ready to resume diplomatic relations with Damascus, which had been severed in 2012. On July 12, he said that he had asked Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan to draft a roadmap of the normalization process. He stressed that Syria’s territorial integrity was in Turkey’s interests.