BEIRUT, LEBANON (4:20 P.M.) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected the recent statement by the head of Turkey’s Republican People’s Party (CHP), Kemal Kilicdaroglu, regarding a potential meeting between Ankara and Damascus.

“What would we talk about with a murderer who has killed a million of his citizens,” Erdogan said in his address to mukhtars— heads of Turkish villages and neighbourhoods—at the presidential complex in Turkey’s capital, Ankara, as quoted by TRT World.

“You can go arm in arm with terrorists when necessary … But, we haven’t so far walked with those taking that path with the permission of terror organisations, and we will not walk with them in the future,” he added.

Erdogan has been a staunch opponent of the Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad since the advent of the Syria War, which has left both Ankara and Damascus at odds on almost every issue inside the country.

Assad has accused repeatedly Erdogan of being a Muslim Brotherhood supporter and a catalyst for the terrorist groups operating in Syria.

The two presidents have not spoken in years and often rely on Russia to mediate the issues between their nations.