Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on Thursday that he could meet his Syrian counterpart Faisal Mekdad early in February, rejecting reports that the two could meet next week.
Such a meeting would mark the highest-level talks between Ankara and Damascus since the Syrian war began in 2011 and signal a further thaw in ties.
Speaking on a live broadcast, Çavuşoğlu said there was no set date for the meeting but it would held "as soon as possible."
A senior Turkish official told Reuters on Wednesday a meeting could be scheduled before the middle of next week, but Çavuşoğlu said it would not happen that soon.
"We have said before that there were some propositions for a date for next week but that they did not suit us ... It could be at the beginning of February, we are working on a date," he said.
The Turkish and Syrian defence ministers held landmark talks in Moscow last month to discuss border security and other issues. Last week, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said he may meet Assad after a trilateral foreign ministers meeting.
