ANKARA, Sept. 12 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuted reports claiming that he held a secret meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad, local Hurriyet Daily News reported Tuesday.
"I did not meet Assad, and I have no intention in meeting him," Erdogan told journalists on his return flight from Kazakhstan Sunday, commenting on the social media reports about the secret talks at Putin's request.
On a new military operation to expel al-Qaida-linked terrorists from Idlib of northern Syria, Erdogan said the situation in Idlib was developing positively.
"It is being run as we agreed with Russia," he noted.
Assad said Damascus considers Ankara neither a partner nor a guarantor state of Syrian settlement, as the latter allegedly supports terrorism, thus undermining political and social crisis settlement in Syria.
