Ankara, Jan 6 (IANS): Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that he might meet his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad as part of the new normalisation process between the two nations.

"We will bring our Foreign Ministers together and then, depending on developments, we will come together as leaders," Erdogan said at a party meeting on Thursday.

"Our objective is to ensure peace and tranquility in the region, and to let peace prevail in the region," he added.

On December 28, 2022, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar and Head of the National Intelligence Organization Hakan Fidan met their Syrian counterparts Ali Mahmoud Abbas and Ali Mamlouk, respectively, in Moscow.

This was the first high-level contact between Ankara and Damascus since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

The leaders of the two countries have not met each other since the outbreak of the war.

The Syrian conflict, which has been going on for almost 12 years, has killed hundreds of thousands of people, displaced millions and drawn in regional and world powers.

Turkey has backed and hosted Syria's opposition in the country since the beginning of the conflict, while Russia has politically and militarily supported the Syrian government.