At the Saudi summit…a surprising stance from Erdogan and Assad starting his speech

Video footage released by Turkish journalists showed the absence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from his seat while the head of the Syrian regime, Bashar al-Assad, spoke inside a summit hall Amazing Arab in Riyadh on Monday.

In the footage circulated by journalists on social media on Monday, the Turkish ambassador to Riyadh, Amrullah Ishler, appeared to be sitting in the chair of the Turkish president, at the same time as Assad’s give his speech.

Arab and Muslim leaders are meeting in the Saudi capital, after more than a year of war between Israel and Hamas and regional escalation, in a summit seen as an opportunity to send a message to the US President Donald Trump.

NEW: Erdogan seems to have left the room when Syria’s Assad began his speech at the summit of Islamic countries in Riyadh.

The footage shows Erdogan’s seat taken by a Turkish representative

Erdogan’s latest overtures to Assad for talks have not progressed. pic.twitter.com/FNBno5w9tm

– Ragıp Soylu (@ragipsoylu) November 11, 2024

Erdogan had previously invited Assad to meet with him, but the latter did not make any positive move in this regard, even though he had previously announced that he was not against this step.

However, the head of the Syrian regime, in return, ordered that a road map be drawn up before any meeting, and the first steps begin with Türkiye announcing its intention to withdraw from Syria.

On October 25, the President of Turkey “asked” his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for “help” in ensuring that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad communicates with Ankara to normalize relations, expressing the hope that Damascus will take a “helpful. way.”

Turkish media reported at the time that Erdogan told reporters on a flight back from the Russian city of Kazan, where he attended the BRICS summit a few weeks ago, that Ankara is “the Damascus is expected to take steps based on the realization that normalization will be very sincere and real. a benefit to him too.”

He said: “Russia’s influence on the Syrian government is known. We asked Mr. Putin to make sure that (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad responds to our call. Will Mr. Putin ask Assad to take this step? Allow time to answer that.”

Before the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011, Türkiye was a key economic and political ally of the Assad regime.

Erdogan became friends with the head of the Syrian regime, but the relationship between them turned upside down when popular protests against the Syrian regime began.

Ankara initially called on his friend to carry out political reforms, but as the demonstrations were violently suppressed and gradually turned into a bloody conflict, Erdogan called on Assad to step down.

The Syrian regime says that no relations with Turkey will happen “unless they agree to withdraw thousands of troops from areas controlled by the armed opposition,” a precondition that Ankara described as “no -appropriate” and highlighted security concerns related to the “People. Defense units.” Victory in the north-east of the country.