Turkiye’s foreign minister has met with the head of Syria’s new administration, promising help with the political transition and rebuilding the war-torn country after the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.
In their meeting in Damascus on Sunday, Turkiye’s Hakan Fidan and Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa stressed the need for unity and stability in Syria, as they called for the lifting of all international sanctions against the war-ravaged country.
Photographs and footage shared by the Turkish ministry showed Fidan and al-Sharaa hug and shake hands, their meeting coming two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Fidan would be going to Damascus to discuss the new structure in Syria.
Addressing the news conference with al-Sharaa, Fidan said Turkiye “will continue to stand by your side … Hopefully the darkest days of Syria are behind [and] better days await us.”
Fidan said sanctions on Damascus must be lifted “as soon as possible” and the international community “needs to mobilise to help Syria get back on its feet and for the displaced people to return”.
Al-Sharaa, who was holding his first public news conference since leading the operation to topple al-Assad and assume power two weeks ago, also called on the international community to lift all sanctions against Syria.
“All the economic sanctions must be lifted, now the predator has gone and only the victims remain. The factors of injustice and oppression have gone. Now the time is opportune for these sanctions to be lifted,” said the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group.
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