Erdoğan seeks support for peace efforts in Syria

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday stressed the importance of efforts for peace in neighboring Syria, urging all peace advocates to support this pivotal call.

"We want peace in Syria, and we expect everyone who stands for peace to support this historic call," Erdoğan told journalists during his return flight from a NATO leaders' summit in Washington, DC, this week.

On Türkiye's peace efforts in Syria, Erdoğan said: "U.S. and Iran should welcome these positive developments and support the process to end immense suffering."

"A fair peace in Syria would benefit Türkiye (among neighboring countries) the most," Erdoğan said, adding: "The most important step in this process is to start a new era with Syria."

He emphasized that a just peace in Syria, respecting its territorial integrity, is in Türkiye's best interest.

Erdoğan expressed optimism for future concrete steps, citing positive progress thus far.

On a potential meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, something he has hinted at in recent days, Erdoğan said: "Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan is working with his Syrian counterpart to lay out a roadmap, and we will take steps accordingly."

"We have been striving for years to extinguish the fire in our neighbor, Syria," said Erdoğan, referring to the over decade-long Syrian civil war, which sent millions of migrants into Türkiye and created a power vacuum near the Turkish border that terrorist groups tried to exploit.

"Our main expectation is that no one will be disturbed by the process in which Syria builds a new future as a united and whole country."

He added: "Terrorist groups will do everything they can to poison the peace process in Syria. They will plot provocations and set traps....