President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan held a meeting with Syria's interim leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who arrived in Ankara on Tuesday.
Al-Sharaa met the Turkish president in the capital Ankara after flying in from Saudi Arabia, where he was seeking help from wealthy Gulf countries to finance the reconstruction of his war-ravaged nation and revive its economy.
Türkiye, which has close ties with al-Sharaa, reopened its diplomatic mission in Syria and sent its intelligence chief and foreign minister for talks with him soon after his anti-regime forces overthrew Bashar Assad on Dec. 8.
The pair will discuss "joint steps to be taken for economic recovery, sustainable stability and security," Presidential Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said Monday.
Al-Sharaa was appointed as transitional president, about two months after he led anti-regime forces to victory by capturing key cities Aleppo, Homs, and finally, the capital, Damascus, in quick succession.
Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalın and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan were the first to visit al-Sharaa in Damascus days after the fall of the Assad regime. Türkiye backed the Syrian opposition against Assad when the civil war broke out in 2011.
Calling for a peaceful transitional period and an inclusive government, Ankara has since led the diplomatic efforts to help Syria regain its normalcy and ensure stability in neighboring countries where developments directly affect Türkiye.
Erdoğan has vowed to help the new Syrian administration form a state structure and a new constitution as the country looks to rebuild after 13 years of civil war. Ankara also says it trusts al-Sharaa’s administration in the fight against terrorist groups in Syria, namely the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the YPG.
