Syria’s new government wants to build strategic relations with Turkey – World

CAIRO, December 22. /TASS/. Syrian authorities are ready to build strategic ties with Turkey in a number of areas, Syria’s new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, also known as Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, said.

“We discussed relations between Syria and Turkey in economic, political and social fields,” he said after meeting with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. “Turkey is a friend of Syria. Since the first days of the revolution, the country has helped us. We will not forget this and intend to build strategic relations with Ankara in the future,” Al Jazeera television quoted him as saying.

According to al-Sharaa, the partnership with Turkey will help the new Syrian authorities solve some of the problems they face, such as the return of refugees. So, according to statistics from the country’s leaders, at least half of Syrians currently live abroad. Apart from that, the country’s infrastructure has been destroyed by the “previous regime”, while existing sanctions make the country’s recovery difficult, he said, calling on the world community to lift sanctions imposed on Bashar Assad’s regime imposed. “It is necessary to alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people as much as possible,” he stressed.

He also reiterated that armed groups operating in Syria would soon declare their self-dissolution and be incorporated into the structures of the Ministry of Defense. According to al-Sharaa, the majority of commanders accepted this condition even before the armed operations against Assad. He vowed that he “will not tolerate the uncontrolled arms trade across the country.”

Armed opposition units in Syria launched a large-scale offensive against government forces in Aleppo and Idlib governorates in late November. On December 8, they entered Damascus as President Bashar Assad resigned and fled the country. On December 10, Mohammed al-Bashir, who had headed the so-called Syrian Rescue Government in Idlib Governorate, announced his appointment as head of Syria’s interim government, saying the transition period will last until March 1, 2025.