Turkiye FM meets Syria’s new leader, calls for lifting of global sanctions | Syria’s war news

Turkiye FM meets Syria’s new leader, calls for lifting of global sanctions | Syria’s war news


Turkey’s foreign minister has met with the head of Syria’s new government and promised help in the political transition and reconstruction of the war-torn country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

Meeting in Damascus on Sunday, Turkish politician Hakan Fidan and Syria’s de facto ruler Ahmed al-Sharaa stressed the need for unity and stability in Syria and called for the lifting of all international sanctions against the war-ravaged country.

Photos and footage shared by the Turkish ministry showed Fidan and al-Sharaa hugging and shaking hands. Their meeting came two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that Fidan would travel to Damascus to discuss the new structure in Syria.

At the press conference with al-Sharaa, Fidan said that Turkiye “will continue to stand by your side… Hopefully Syria’s darkest days are behind us and better days await us.”

Fidan said sanctions against Damascus must be lifted “as soon as possible” and that the international community must “mobilize to help Syria get back on its feet and enable the return of the displaced.”

Al-Sharaa, who held his first public press conference since leading the operation to overthrow al-Assad and seize power two weeks ago, also called on the international community to lift all sanctions against Syria.

“All economic sanctions must be lifted, now the predator has disappeared and only the victims remain.” The factors of injustice and oppression have disappeared. “Now is the time to lift these sanctions,” said the head of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) Group.

“This regime has been in power for more than 50 years and some of these sanctions were imposed in the 1970s. “That’s why we have to act quickly, these sanctions have to be lifted quickly so that we can move our country forward.”

The two officials discussed the need to draft a new Syrian constitution that protects the country’s minorities. The issue of Syrian refugees, Israel’s “violations” of Syrian sovereignty and the issue of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) were also on the agenda.

The opposition came to power in Syria 13 years of brutal warwhich began in 2011 as a largely unarmed uprising against al-Assad but eventually turned into an all-out war that attracted foreign powers, killed hundreds of thousands of people and turned millions into refugees.

Fidan’s visit to Damascus came amid fighting in northeastern Syria between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the Kurdish YPG group, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. Turkiye had supported rebels seeking to overthrow Assad for years while hosting millions of Syrian refugees who are hoped to soon return home.

Al Jazeera’s Resul Sardar, reporting from Damascus, said Turkiye offered help to the new Syrian government and “emphasized the importance of keeping state institutions running.”

“Turkiye has been one of the key supporters of the Syrian opposition since the uprising began in 2011. Now Fidan was in Damascus and just emphasized the importance of maintaining the state apparatus,” he said.

Lebanese Druze leader is also visiting

Al-Sharaa also hosted Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt on Sunday, as several governments and Syrians expressed concern about the protection of minorities under the new Syrian government, including Kurds, Christians, Alawites and Druze, who are an Arab minority practices an offshoot of Islam.

“We are proud of our culture, our religion and our Islam. Belonging to the Islamic environment does not mean the exclusion of other sects. On the contrary, it is our duty to protect them,” al-Sharaa said in comments to Lebanese broadcaster Al Jadeed during his meeting with Jumblatt.

Jumblatt is the first Lebanese figure to visit Syria and meet the leaders of its new government.

Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt shakes hands with Syria's de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani, next to Jumblatt's son Taymur, following the overthrow of Syria's Bashar al-Assad in Damascus, Syria
Jumblatt shakes hands with al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday (Khalil Ashawi/Reuters)

Jumblatt, a veteran politician and prominent Druze leader, said the removal of al-Assad should be the start of a new era in relations between Lebanon and Syria. A long-time critic of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon, he blamed Assad’s father, former President Hafez al-Assad, for his father’s assassination decades ago.

“We salute the Syrian people for their great victories and we salute you for the struggle you waged to eliminate oppression and tyranny that lasted more than 50 years,” Jumblatt told al-Sharaa.

Al-Sharaa, until recently known as Abu Mohammed al-Julanisaid he would send a government delegation to the southwestern Druze town of Sweida in Syria and commit to providing services to the community there to celebrate the country’s “rich diversity of sects.”

“Syria will not be a case of prolonged negative interference in Lebanon,” he said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Sardar said al-Sharaa assured that all religious and ethnic minorities in Syria were “fairly represented.”

“Whether the new government will be tolerant enough towards minorities, whether minorities will be fairly represented in a new Syria or not – this is a question that Ahmad al-Sharaa is asked again and again,” he said.



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