In Kazakhstan, Erdoğan and Putin attended the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Both also met bilaterally there.
Erdoğan’s efforts to reach a rapprochement with Assad are linked to growing domestic criticism of his refugee policy. The president is under pressure to send Syrian refugees back to the neighboring country. This week, rioters attacked shops and vehicles belonging to Syrian residents in several Turkish cities and in some cases set them on fire.
Putin is a close ally of Assad. In the past, Turkey has sought Russian mediation for a rapprochement with Syria. Erdoğan has invited the Russian president to Turkey several times. However, such a trip has never taken place.
Erdoğan and Assad once had such a close relationship that their families vacationed together in Bodrum in 2009. At the beginning of the Syrian civil war, however, Erdoğan supported Islamist forces that sought to overthrow Assad. Assad has so far said that the withdrawal of Turkish occupation troops from northern Syria is a condition for talks, which Turkey rejects.
