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Turkiye’s foreign minister met with the head of Syria’s new administration and promised help with the political transition and reconstruction of the war-torn country after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
At 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, while calling for the lifting of all international sanctions against the devastated country. for the war.
Photographs and images shared by the Turkish ministry showed Fidan and al-Sharaa hugging and shaking hands, their meeting coming two days after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Fidan would go to Damascus to discuss the new structure in Syria.
At the press conference with al-Sharaa, Fidan said Turkiye “will continue to stand by your side… Let us hope that the darkest days of Syria are behind us (and) better days await us.”
Fidan said sanctions on Damascus must be lifted “as soon as possible” and that the international community “needs to mobilize to help Syria recover and the displaced return.”
Al-Sharaa, who was holding his first public press conference since leading the operation to overthrow Al-Assad and assume 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 is gone and only the victims remain. The factors of injustice and oppression have disappeared. Now is the right time to lift these sanctions,” 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 imposed in the 1970s. That’s why action must be quick, these sanctions must 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, “violations” of Syrian sovereignty by Israel and the issue of the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) were also on the agenda.
The opposition takeover in Syria came after 13 years of brutal war, which began as a largely unarmed uprising against Al-Assad in 2011 but eventually escalated into an all-out war that drew in foreign powers and killed hundreds of thousands of people. and turned millions into refugees.
Fidan’s visit to Damascus came amid fighting in northeastern Syria between Syrian fighters backed by Turkiye and the Kurdish YPG group, which Ankara considers a terrorist organization. Turkiye had for years supported rebels seeking to overthrow Al-Assad, while hosting millions of Syrian refugees he hopes will begin 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 state institutions functioning.”
“Turkiye has been one of the main supporters of the Syrian opposition since the uprising began in 2011. So now Fidan was in Damascus and he simply emphasized the importance of preserving state apparatuses,” he said.
Al-Sharaa also received 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 a Arab minority that practices a branch. of Islam.
“We are proud of 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 ouster should be the beginning of a new era of relations between Lebanon and Syria. A long-time critic of Syria’s involvement in Lebanon, he blamed al-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 battle you fought 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 Druze city of Sweida in southwestern Syria, pledging to provide services to his community to honor the “rich diversity of sects” in the country. country. .
“Syria will no longer be a case of negative interference in Lebanon,” he said.
Al Jazeera correspondent Sardar said al-Sharaa has given assurances that all religious and ethnic minorities will be “fairly represented” in Syria.
“Whether the new administration will be tolerant enough towards minorities, whether minorities will be fairly represented in a new Syria or not, that is the question that is repeatedly asked of Ahmad al-Sharaa,” he said.