Turkish intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın traveled to Damascus on Thursday, just days after an Islamist-led rebel push ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and prayed at the city’s historic Umayyad Mosque, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Turkish television stations.
The footage, which was shown on multiple channels including the private NTV, showed him leaving the Umayyad Mosque, one of the largest and oldest mosques in the world, surrounded by a tight security detail.
Praying at the Umayyad Mosque following Assad’s ouster was a dream of then-prime minister and current President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and government officials who expected the fall of Assad’s regime soon after the civil war began in Syria in 2011. Their dream, which was mocked by many due to the prolonged war in Syria which resulted in the flow of around 3 million refugees to Turkey, came true after 13 years.
Rumors that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was also in the Syrian capital were denied by the foreign ministry.
“The minister is in Ankara. He did not go to Damascus,” a spokesman told AFP, just hours before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken was to land in the Turkish capital for top level talks with Erdoğan and his chief diplomat.