Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was quoted on Thursday as saying he proposed to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin forming a trilateral mechanism with Russia and Syria to accelerate diplomacy between Ankara and Damascus.
Erdoğan told reporters after a trip to Turkmenistan that he offered to Putin initiating a series of meetings between Türkiye, Russia and Syria to revisit long-strained relations with Damascus.
"First our intelligence agencies, then defence ministers, and then foreign ministers (of the three countries) could meet. After their meetings we as the leaders may come together. I offered it to Mr. Putin and he has a positive view on it," Erdoğan was cited as saying.
Erdoğan was quoted on Thursday as saying that Ankara was getting close to a "positive point" on selling Turkmen gas to European markets through Türkiye and that talks on the issue could be concluded early in 2023.
Erdoğan stressed in an interview after a trip to Turkmenistan that the energy ministers from Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan would discuss the details of the project.
Emphasizing that the terror organization is active in Syria, especially in its northern parts, Erdoğan said his country will take matters into its own hands if countries like the U.S. continue to provide "thousands of truck-loads" of weapons, ammunition, tools and equipment to terrorists in Syria.
The Turkish president also lashed out at EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's latest remarks targeting Türkiye over its ties with Russia and urging it to join EU's sanctions against Moscow.
"I do not take Borrell as my interlocutor. He can only be Mr. (Turkish Foreign Minister) Mevlüt's (Çavuşoğlu) interlocutor," Erdoğan said, while describing Borrell's remarks as "ugly."
"In other words, Borrell cannot appoint or regulate our relations with Russia. He has neither the quality nor the capacity to make such a decision on these matters. It was a very ugly comment," he added.
Asked about Germany's measures against a bizarre coup plot by right-wing extremists, Erdoğan welcomed the measures and said shedding light on the process within the rule of law is important.
"It is my people, my country, who will best understand the feeling in Germany against the coup plans. Unfortunately, I cannot say that we see the same sympathy and understanding from our friend and ally Germany," he said.
