A rapprochement between Syria and Turkey is on the table. Here’s what it might mean for the region

Associated Press

ANKARA (AP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar Assad in recent weeks have signaled they are interested in restoring diplomatic ties that have been ruptured for more than a decade. Erdogan says he hopes to arrange a meeting with Assad for the first time since the countries broke off relations in 2011. That was the year that mass anti-government protests and a brutal crackdown by security forces in Syria spiraled into a still-ongoing civil war. This is not the first time that there have been attempts to normalize relations between the two countries, but previous attempts failed to gain traction.