Erdogan says Turkey has maintained contacts with Damascus

Turkey has maintained low-level contact with the Syrian government, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday, even though Ankara has supported rebels who fought for years to topple President Bashar al-Assad.Erdogan has described Assad as a terrorist and said several times during Syria's eight-year conflict that the Syrian leader must go.Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said in December Turkey and other countries would consider working with Assad if he won a democratic election, and last month sa