Syria’s interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials in Istanbul as Western sanctions on Syria are lifted.
The two leaders were pictured by Turkiye’s state media shaking hands after an official reception and joining for a meeting at the Dolmabahce Palace in Istanbul on Saturday.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Defence Minister Yasar Guler, National Intelligence Organisation director Ibrahim Kalin, and secretary of Turkish Defence Industries Haluk Gorgun were part of the talks, which were closed to the press.
Al-Sharaa, who enjoyed sweeping Turkish backing in overthrowing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, was accompanied by his Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra and Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
The Syrian interim leader was also received by Erdogan in the capital, Ankara, in early February, in what was his second international trip after a visit to Riyadh to meet Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The two sides have been discussing deepening bilateral relations and the reconstruction of Syria, as regional allies helped convince United States President Donald Trump to lift devastating sanctions imposed on Syria.
Washington on Friday lifted the first sanctions as part of the drive announced by Trump during his regional tour earlier this month. The European Union has also followed suit, lifting economic sanctions to help with Syria’s recovery after years of civil war.
The new Syrian government has welcomed the lifting of the sanctions, with its Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday describing the move as a “positive step in the right direction to reduce humanitarian and economic struggles in the country”.
The first of the US sanctions on Syria were imposed in 1979, when Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez, was in power. But they were hugely levelled up after the al-Assad government launched a deadly crackdown on protesters in 2011, which triggered the country’s civil war.
The sanctions targeted any entity or company working with the al-Assad establishment, including those involved in rebuilding the country.
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