The Baath regime that had ruled Syria for 61 years collapsed when Bashar Assad fled to Russia on Dec. 8, and an interim government was established in its place. A new future awaits the Syrian state and people, who have been going through a difficult test since 2011. Indeed, the positive momentum that Syria has gained continues unabated. Türkiye has been the country that has assumed the greatest responsibility for Syria reaching this point. It has displayed a consistent and humane stance since the first moment of the long-term crisis and has had positive initiatives for Syria, each of which is a subject for history books.
After the civil war broke out in Syria, Türkiye followed the developments momentarily and reacted rapidly. For this reason, it has shaped its political position by opposing Assad and supporting the opposition. Ankara has often repeated the statement that Assad lost his legitimacy on every international platform it has intervened in regarding Syria and offered all kinds of political support so that the opposition could take over the country’s administration.
Another major action Türkiye has taken for Syria so far has been to support the Syrian people. It has hosted millions of Syrian citizens with its open-door policy throughout the civil war in Syria and protected Syrians who seek refuge under the “temporary protection” status within the framework of the Law on Foreigners and International Protection, which it enacted in 2013 and has enabled these people to access fundamental human rights and services.
According to data from the Presidency of Migration Management, the number of Syrians who took refuge in Türkiye in 2012 was only 14,000. With the intensification of the war, this number reached 1.5 million in 2014 and 3.7 million in 2021. Thus, as confirmed by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Türkiye has fulfilled a historical and humanitarian mission as the country that takes the most responsibility in the Syrian refugee crisis. Although the number of Syrians under temporary protection decreased to 2.8 million as Syrians began to return to their country within the scope of “honorable return” as of Feb. 6, 2025, Türkiye still maintains the distinction of being the country that hosts the most Syrians.
While Europe, which claims to be the cradle of civilization and humanity, has been using all kinds of inhumane treatment to keep Syrians, whom it treats as a plague, away from its borders, Türkiye has approached this issue with purely humanitarian motives. Within this framework, it has spent billions of Turkish liras through both state institutions and humanitarian aid organizations to provide shelter, food and health care, and education opportunities for Syrians. The expenses made for Syrians over the past period have been so high that it is impossible to calculate their total.
Let's consider that the greatest asset of a state is its human resources. Türkiye has actually done the most excellent favor for the future of the Syrian state by hosting nearly 4 million Syrians. Indeed, the following words uttered by Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa point to this very reality, “We will never forget the historical stance of the Turkish state and nation that opened its doors to millions of Syrians.”
Following the start of the civil war, Türkiye pursued an active policy regarding the protection of Syria’s political and territorial integrity because newly emerged terrorist organizations tried to use the weakness of the central authority in the country as an opportunity. Indeed, the Daesh and YPG duo dominated approximately 40% of Syria in 2017. Türkiye, on the other hand, did not remain indifferent to the developments taking place right next to it within the framework of regional security dynamics and perceived the terrorist organizations’ attempts to establish a permanent authority on Syrian soil as a survival issue. For this reason, it resorted to the right of self-defense stipulated in Article 51 of the United Nations Charter and organized extensive military operations in northern Syria.
The current situation shows that if Türkiye had not carried out these operations, the current Syrian government would have faced much greater difficulties in regaining control over the country and, at best, would have struggled with a political structure fragmented into dozens of pieces. In this respect, Türkiye’s military operations are critical moves in terms of protecting Syria’s territorial integrity as well as its own national security.
In the upcoming period, Türkiye will not refrain from taking new initiatives to protect Syria’s political integrity and security, as well as for its own security and future. Indeed, there is no other actor that the new Syria under Sharaa can trust and cooperate with other than Türkiye to eliminate the U.S.-backed YPG structure in northeastern Syria. Moreover, the new administration cannot combat the Israeli threat of invading Syria from the west and gaining new lands without Türkiye’s support. These two issues, which are of critical importance in terms of preserving the territorial integrity of the Syrian state, clearly demonstrate that Türkiye is a crucial ally in Syria.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to draw attention to another issue. Global powers, taking advantage of the civil war in Syria, have established illegitimate relations in this country by cooperating with terrorist organizations. For example, French cement giant Lafarge made a secret agreement with the terrorist organization Daesh to continue its activities in Syria. As part of this agreement, Lafarge paid tribute to Daesh and gave free cement in exchange for its activities in Syria continuing.
More interestingly, Lafarge did not neglect to provide information to French intelligence during this entire process. In other words, the French state became a party to this mind-boggling crime. Indeed, the United States, which evaluated this crime as “making a deal with the devil,” imposed a fine of $778 million on Lafarge because it financed a terrorist organization. Contrary to all the propaganda activities carried out against it, Türkiye neither established such a relationship with terrorist organizations nor tried to exploit Syria’s own resources by taking advantage of them. On the contrary, it initiated the Syrian people to use their own resources in the safe zones it created in northern Syria through military operations.
To summarize, Türkiye has done a lot for Syria to come to this day. The new administration that is building the new Syria is aware of this positive reality and, therefore, no longer sees Türkiye as a threat but as a valuable ally. As long as this awareness continues, Ankara-Damascus relations, which have been trapped in a vicious circle of distrust for years due to the reckless policies of the bloodthirsty Baath regime, can completely break out of this circle and transform into a strategic partnership that can be a role model for the countries in the region.
