Erdogan Not Ruling Out Normalization of Relations With Syria in Near Future

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday he cannot rule out the normalization of relations with Syria in the near future.

"Just as relations between [Turkey] and Egypt take shape, ties with Syria can follow the same path in the next period; there is no room for hard feelings in politics," Erdogan said, quoted by a state news agency.

Turkey launched a new offensive against Syrian Kurds last week. Ankara believes that Kurdish autonomous regions in neighboring Syria and Iraq host militants of the PKK group, which it sees as terrorists.

Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in October that Russia offered to mediate a meeting between Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad. Erdogan, commenting on such a possibility, said in mid-November that Ankara would consider the proposal in due time.

The first meeting of Turkish and Egyptian presidents took place at the World Cup in Doha last Sunday. Turkey-Egypt relations were severed after the overthrow of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in 2013 and the bloody internal hostilities that followed. Erdogan strongly opposed the actions of the Egyptian military against the ousted president's supporters. Turkey and Egypt withdrew their ambassadors in August 2013 and declared them persona non grata.