Iranian media: "Erdogan and Assad may meet in Uzbekistan"

Iranian news agency Tasnim News said on Sunday that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, enemies in the Syrian civil war for 11 years, "may meet" during Shanghai Cooperation Organization's (SCO) meeting in Uzbekistan in September.

Noting that both Erdogan and Assad have been invited to the SCO's meeting by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tasnim said, without citing a source:

"It is stated that the three leaders may meet in the context of the SCO meeting."

A former Turkish foreign minister currently serving as advisor for the leader of far right Victory Party (Zafer Partisi), Sukru Sina Gurel, confirmed the possibility of a meeting between Erdogan and Assad.

He also disclosed in a live broadcast that he was engaged in an attempt to meet with the Syrian President but withdrew when meetings between intelligence officials of the two countries evolved into some high level diplomatic contacts.

"We saw that contacts with the Syrian administration, first on the level of intelligence officials, but later on higher levels, between senior diplomatic representatives, have been started, especially through some meetings in Belarus. So we decided to take a step back."

Gurel also said that Dogu Perincek, the leader of national socialist Patriotic Party (Vatan Partisi) who is planning to head a delegation to meet with Assad, will have no intermediation mission.