The meeting between Erdogan and Assad will take place in the near future.

A meeting between Turkish and Syrian Presidents Tayyip Erdogan and Bashar al-Assad may soon take place, “behind-the-scenes diplomacy” is underway to organize it, columnist Abdulkadir Selvi, who is close to government circles, said on Tuesday.

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Turkish presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said in October that Russia was offering to mediate a meeting between Erdogan and Assad. Erdogan himself said in mid-November that Ankara could evaluate this proposal when the time comes, since there are “no offenses” in politics. Later, Selvi said that the meeting between Erdogan and Assad could take place in Russia through the mediation of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

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“President Erdogan has said several times that he can also meet with Assad. There is behind-the-scenes diplomacy to bring the two leaders together. I think that this meeting will happen in a short time. Erdogan said: “In the subsequent process, as it happened with Egypt, the same can happen with Syria. There are no grudges in politics” and keeps the door open for dialogue,” Selvi wrote.