Ceremonies of welcoming Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad in Moscow, 2023

Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad announced, in Moscow today, "there is no disagreement between the Syrian and Turkish peoples, the problem lies in the personal ambitions of Turkish politicians.”

Commenting on the possibility of his meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Al-Assad stressed that Syria’s priority is "the withdrawal of illegal foreign forces, that is the Turkish and American forces in Syria," meanwhile Erdogan's priority is the elections and nothing else. “for Syria, the priority is the restoration of national sovereignty," Al-Assad further underlined.

The Syrian President added that only when the conditions are met will he meet with President Erdogan, "there is no specific date for a meeting with Erdogan, it may be today or tomorrow, the timing is not the problem," he added.

الرئيس الأسد: اللقاء مع أردوغان يرتبط بالوصول إلى مرحلة تكون فيها تركيا جاهزة وبشكل واضح ودون أي التباس للخروج الكامل من الأراضي السورية والتوقف عن دعم الإرهاب وإعادة الوضع إلى ما كان عليه قبل بدء الحرب، هذه هي الحالة الوحيدة التي يمكن عندها أن يكون هناك لقاء بيني وبين أردوغان. pic.twitter.com/spSd5iIjri
— SAM 🇸🇾 (@SAMSyria0) March 16, 2023

Al-Assad believed that the visit of the US Secretary of Staff to northern Syria indicates that "the United States is the world’s largest rogue country," noting that there are patriotic Kurds, "but any party, force, or individual working for the interest of a foreign power is a traitor and a stooge."

In regards to the Chinese-mediated agreement of restoring diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, Al-Assad said: "This is a pleasant surprise," explaining that "the four-decade-old alliance and affinity between Syria and Iran will no longer be a problem on the Arab level."

Additionally, the Syrian President pointed out that "Israel" continues to terrorize Syria with its recurrent bombing campaigns. “Israel” has been shuffling cards since 2013, and it has, in cooperation with the United States, unleashed "ISIS".

Furthermore, Al-Assad affirmed that the United States has started to realize that it’s no longer a "hegemonic pole" and its“absolute dominance over the markets" has started to wane.

Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad arrived in Moscow on Tuesday on his first official visit outside the Middle East since last month's devastating earthquake.

This comes shortly after a Turkish diplomatic source revealed on Monday that a meeting that will involve Syria, Turkey, Russia, and Iran at the level of Deputy Foreign Ministers is set to be held soon.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced yesterday that Presidents Al-Assad and Putin concluded an extensive session of negotiations.

The talks were reportedly bipartite: first with the attendance of delegations and then face-to-face.