PoliticsSyria's interim president travels to Turkey to meet Erdogan
SDA
3.2.2025 - 12:58
ARCHIVE - Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, Haiat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader, walks before his meeting with Libyan Minister of State for Communications and Political Affairs, Ellafi, at the presidential palace. Photo: Mosa'ab Elshamy/AP/dpa
Keystone
Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa will travel to Turkey for his second official visit abroad. Al-Sharaa will meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara on Tuesday, the Turkish Communications Directorate announced.
Keystone-SDA
03.02.2025, 12:58
SDA
The meeting is to take place in the afternoon, according to the Turkish presidential palace. Sources in the Syrian transitional government confirmed to the German Press Agency that a visit by al-Sharaa to Turkey is planned within a few days. The first foreign visit had taken the interim president to Saudi Arabia.
Like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, Turkey is also pressing ahead with the expansion of relations with Syria. Among other things, the country wants to provide support in building up the economy and the Syrian military. The overthrow of Syria's long-term ruler Bashar al-Assad by a rebel alliance led by Islamists has significantly increased Turkey's influence in the region.
In northern Syria, Turkish-backed fighters continue to battle Kurdish-led forces that administer a region close to the border. Ankara sees the Kurdish militias as an offshoot of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party and therefore as a "terrorist organization" and is calling for their dissolution.