In the capital Ankara, opposition parties are calling for mass deportations, and the government is calling on the Syrian regime it once sought to topple to help resolve the problem. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is now publicly seeking a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad, the man he once labeled a terrorist, to reset relations. Before the Syrian civil war, the two leaders vacationed together, but years later, after the Syrian regime brutally crushed a public revolt, Erdogan sought to oust him from office and backed local forces fighting against him. Turkish troops remain in control of a swath of Syrian territory along the Turkish border where Syrian opposition groups are sheltering. Syrian opponents denounce the Turkish President's statements for normalization with the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime in the city of Idlib, Syria on July 12.

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Persons: CNN — It’s, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Bashar al, Assad, vacationed, Erdogan, “, ” Erdogan, ”, Bilal Bagis, “ It’s, ” Assad, Aaref Watad, Ali Yerlikaya, Ebubekir Hussamoglu, He’s, Anas, Mohammad Shbeeb, Abdullah Resul Demir, they’re, Shbeeb, didn’t, Cenk Ozatici, Iyi, Ozatici, Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu Organizations: CNN, Turkish, International Refugee Rights Association, Ibrahim Usta, AFP, Getty, Party, European Union, Istanbul Mayor Locations: Turkey, Ankara, Turkish, Damascus, Syria, Afrin, AFP, Anatolian, Kayseri, Syrian, Antalya, Istanbul, Idlib, Gaziantep, Azaz, Ibrahim, Europe