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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syria’s interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Istanbul on Saturday.
The surprise visit of Syria’s interim leader to Istanbul came after his meeting with US President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia.
Announced on 29 January as the leader of Syria’s interim administration, al-Sharaa made his first visit to Turkey in February at the invitation of President Erdogan.
Syria’s interim leader, who arrived in Ankara on a plane provided by Turkey, emphasised in his speech that they wanted to transform their relations with Turkey into a “deep strategic cooperation”.
The meeting took place at the Dolmabahçe Working Office and was attended by Turkish Head of National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) İbrahim Kalın, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Turkish Minister of National Defence Yaşar Güler and Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Hassan Şeybani.
President Erdogan stated that the EU and the US’s move to ease sanctions on Syria was “welcomed by Turkey”. The Turkish leader also emphasized the need to protect Syria’s territorial integrity, referencing Israeli troops within the country’s borders.
In turn, the Syrian leader thanked President Erdogan “for his critical support and efforts” in lifting sanctions.
Trump-al-Sharaa meeting
US President Donald Trump met with Syria’s interim leader al-Sharaa in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, as part of his Middle East tour. The meeting came after the surprise announcement that the US would lift all sanctions against the new Syrian government.
Trump’s decision to abruptly lift sanctions against Syria has accelerated a long-standing roadmap in Brussels. On 20 May, the European Union decided to lift all remaining economic sanctions against Syria.
Despite concerns among some in his administration about the Syrian leadership’s past ties to al-Qaeda, Trump signalled a significant policy shift by announcing that he would lift sanctions against Syria at the meeting. President Erdogan attended the meeting online with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump.
Trump’s decision to lift sanctions is seen as a major diplomatic win for al-Sharaa, who overthrew former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in December. However, incidents such as the killing of hundreds of Alawite civilians in March showed how fragile the country remains. Western governments, including the United States, condemned these attacks.
For years, al-Sharaa was the leader of the official branch of al-Qaeda in Syria. He first joined the organisation in Iraq and spent five years in US prisons. Later, al-Sharaa founded the al-Nusra organisation in Syria, affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
Later, he announced his defection from ISIS and founded the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organisation, which is still recognised as a ‘terrorist’ organisation by many countries. However, things began to change slowly after the overthrow of brutal, long-time dictator Assad. In December, the US cancelled the $10 million bounty on al-Sharaa’s head.