Syria's Assad tamps down expectations of closer ties with Turkey, Arab world

DAMASCUS (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday tamped down expectations for his country's renewed ties with the Arab world, in his first televised interview since Damascus's membership of the Arab League was restored in May.

In comments to Sky News Arabia in Damascus aired on Wednesday, Assad also said a meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan could not happen due to a dispute over the withdrawal of Ankara's troops from rebel-held northwest Syria.

Assad, 57, had been widely isolated over his crackdown on demonstrations that erupted against him in 2011 but the deadly earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in February fast-tracked a resumption of ties with the Arab world and with Ankara.

On Wednesday, Assad appeared to lower expectations for both tracks, including a summit with Erdogan.

"Our goal is (Turkey's) withdrawal from Syrian territory, while Erdogan's goal is to legitimise the presence of Turkey's occupation in Syria," Assad said. "Therefore, the meeting cannot take place under Erdogan's conditions."

"Why would Erdogan and I meet? To drink beverages?"

'ILLOGICAL' ACCUSATIONS

Assad won a warm welcome at the Arab League's summit in Jeddah in May, where he also held talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Asked what he expected from the Arab world, Assad said, "I cannot expect, I can hope," adding that it was "unrealistic to expect that... these relationships, which began to look closer to normal, would lead to economic results within months."

Syria's economy is in dire straits following the collapse of the local currency to all-time lows, tightening sanctions, the financial meltdown of neighbouring Lebanon and the loss of many of its oil-producing regions in the northeast.

Assad said the worsening living conditions had discouraged displaced Syrians - who number in the millions - from returning to their homeland.

Arab states have pressured Syria to rein in what they say is a flourishing drug trade - particularly the amphetamine-like drug captagon - in exchange for closer relations.

Assad said it was "illogical" to accuse the Syrian state of involvement in drug smuggling, adding that his country had a "shared interest" with Arab states in fighting it.

Top Syrian officials - including Assad's brother Maher - have faced a new spate of sanctions in recent months from the United States and European Union over their alleged involvement in drug smuggling.

Those measures have added to the Caesar Act of 2020, seen as the toughest and widest round of sanctions on Syria yet.

‮"‬The Caesar Act is an obstacle, no doubt, but we managed in numerous ways to bypass this law," Assad said. He said Syria had been in "intermittent" talks with the United States but that he did not expect any results from them.

He did not mention Austin Tice, the U.S. journalist who disappeared while reporting in Syria a decade ago. Washington is in talks with Damascus over his fate.

(Reporting by Laila Bassam, Maya Gebeily and Kinda Makieh; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Gareth Jones)