President Erdogan met with Syrian interim leader al-Sharaa in Istanbul

Published on 24/05/2025 - 17:13 GMT+2

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met pinch Syria's interim leader Ahmed al-Sharaa successful Istanbul connected Saturday.

The astonishment sojourn of Syria's interim leader to Istanbul came aft his gathering pinch US President Donald Trump successful Saudi Arabia.

Announced connected 29 January arsenic nan leader of Syria's interim administration, al-Sharaa made his first sojourn to Turkey successful February astatine nan invitation of President Erdogan.

Syria's interim leader, who arrived successful Ankara connected a level provided by Turkey, emphasised successful his reside that they wanted to toggle shape their relations pinch Turkey into a "deep strategical cooperation".

The gathering took spot astatine nan Dolmabahçe Working Office and was attended by Turkish Head of National Intelligence Organisation (MİT) İbrahim Kalın, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, Turkish Minister of National Defence Yaşar Güler and Syrian Foreign Minister Assad Hassan Şeybani.

President Erdogan stated that nan EU and nan US's move to easiness sanctions connected Syria was "welcomed by Turkey". The Turkish leader besides emphasized nan request to protect Syria's territorial integrity, referencing Israeli troops wrong nan country's borders.

In turn, nan Syrian leader thanked President Erdogan "for his captious support and efforts" successful lifting sanctions.

Trump-al-Sharaa meeting

US President Donald Trump met pinch Syria's interim leader al-Sharaa successful Riyadh, nan superior of Saudi Arabia, arsenic portion of his Middle East tour. The gathering came aft nan astonishment announcement that nan US would assistance each sanctions against nan caller Syrian government.

Trump's determination to abruptly assistance sanctions against Syria has accelerated a long-standing roadmap successful Brussels. On 20 May, nan European Union decided to assistance each remaining economical sanctions against Syria.

Despite concerns among immoderate successful his management astir nan Syrian leadership's past ties to al-Qaeda, Trump signalled a important argumentation displacement by announcing that he would assistance sanctions against Syria astatine nan meeting. President Erdogan attended nan gathering online pinch Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Trump.

Trump's determination to assistance sanctions is seen arsenic a awesome negotiated triumph for al-Sharaa, who overthrew erstwhile Syrian President Bashar al-Assad successful December. However, incidents specified arsenic nan sidesplitting of hundreds of Alawite civilians successful March showed really vulnerable nan state remains. Western governments, including nan United States, condemned these attacks.

For years, al-Sharaa was nan leader of nan charismatic branch of al-Qaeda successful Syria. He first joined nan organisation successful Iraq and spent 5 years successful US prisons. Later, al-Sharaa founded nan al-Nusra organisation successful Syria, affiliated pinch nan Islamic State of Iraq and nan Levant (ISIL).

Later, he announced his defection from ISIS and founded nan Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) organisation, which is still recognised arsenic a 'terrorist' organisation by galore countries. However, things began to alteration slow aft nan overthrow of brutal, long-time dictator Assad. In December, nan US cancelled nan $10 cardinal bounty connected al-Sharaa's head.