Iraq aims to host first meeting between Turkey's Erdogan, Syria's Assad

WASHINGTON – Iraq's government aims to host what would be the first meeting in more than a decade between Turkey's president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and his Syrian counterpart, Bashar al-Assad, Iraq's top diplomat confirmed on Friday.

The proposal came after Baghdad received signals of openness to rapprochement from both Ankara and Damascus, Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein told journalists in Washington following the conclusion of the NATO summit.

"The Russians also started to talk about mediating between Syria and Turks," Hussein said. "But I have a feeling we are going to invite the two sides in Baghdad, and when I will come back, I'm going to reach out to the my colleague, the Syrian foreign minister, so that we can fix a date."

"Both sides in principle are ready to sit down. And both sides accepted the meditation," he said.