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

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.

“This regime has been ruling for more than 50 years, and some of these sanctions were handed down in the 1970s. That’s why the action must be swift, these sanctions must be lifted quickly in order for us to take our country forward.”

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

The opposition’s taking over of power in Syria came after 13 years of brutal war, which started as a largely unarmed uprising against al-Assad in 2011 but eventually turned into an all-out war that dragged in foreign powers, killed hundreds of thousands of people, and turned millions into refugees.

Fidan’s visit to Damascus came amid fighting in northeast Syria between Turkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the Kurdish YPG group, which Ankara regards as a terrorist organisation. Turkiye had for years backed rebels seeking to remove al-Assad, while also hosting millions of Syrian refugees it hopes will start returning home.

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

“Turkiye has been one of the main backers of the Syrian opposition since the uprising started in 2011. So now Fidan was in Damascus, and he simply emphasized the importance of preserving the state apparatuses,” he said.

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

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

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

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

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

Al-Sharaa, until recently known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, said he would send a government delegation to the southwestern Druze city of Sweida in Syria, pledging to provide services to its community in order to honour the country’s “rich diversity of sects”.

“Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon,” he said.

Al Jazeera correspondent Sardar said al-Sharaa has given his assurances that all religious and ethnic minorities will be “fairly represented” in Syria.

“Whether the new administration is going to be tolerant enough against the minorities, whether the minorities are going to be represented fairly in a new Syria or not – that question is being repeatedly asked to Ahmad al-Sharaa,” he said.