President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Syria’s new Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani discussed steps to be taken to protect the country’s territorial integrity, as they met at the Presidential Complex in the capital Ankara on Wednesday.
Erdoğan told the Syrian top diplomat that the Assad regime had left destruction behind while saying that Türkiye would support efforts to reconstruct the country and provide humanitarian necessities to the Syrian people.
He continued by highlighting the necessity to lift sanctions on Syria in order to rebuild the wartorn country.
The president also reiterated that terrorist groups have no place in the country’s future.
The meeting, held behind closed doors, was also attended by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. Al-Shaibani was accompanied by Defense Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Intelligence Director Anas Hasan Khattab.
Turkish media reports last week also said Syria’s new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, would make his first foreign visit to Ankara in the coming period to thank Türkiye for its support to the anti-regime forces during the Syrian revolution.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were the first to visit al-Sharaa in Damascus days after anti-regime forces led by al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) took the capital and Bashar Assad fled to Moscow.
Türkiye backed the Syrian opposition against Assad when the civil war broke out in 2011.
Calling for a peaceful transitional period and an inclusive government, Ankara has since led the diplomatic efforts to help Syria regain its normalcy and ensure stability in neighboring countries where developments directly affect Türkiye.