Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said Turkey will take an active role in the restructuring of neighboring Syria following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad and that his foreign minister will soon travel to Syria to help in its reconstruction, BBC Turkish edition reported.
Erdoğan was speaking to a group of journalists accompanying him on his return from a summit he attended in Cairo on Thursday.
The president said his top diplomat, Hakan Fidan, would soon visit Damascus, following intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın, who went to the Syrian capital just four days after Assad’s fall and met with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leadership, which ousted Assad in an offensive on December 8.
“There are many elements that this new administration needs in particular. We will not leave them alone on these issues,” Erdoğan said.
Drafting an “inclusive constitution” and building a political system that will establish the future of Syria is of utmost importance, Erdoğan added.
He said his government has initiated communication with the new rulers of Syria, in particular the leader of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, now using his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Turkey will also seek to improve ties with Syria in trade, energy and defense, according to the president.
“We will collaborate in many areas, from defense to education and energy. Syria currently faces serious energy issues. But we will quickly address all these problems.
Despite having a working relationship, Ankara had no direct link to the offensive, with Fidan on Wednesday telling Al Jazeera it was “not a takeover” by Turkey, as incoming US president Donald Trump had described it.
Returns to Syria
Erdoğan also said he hoped that developments in Syria would allow Syrian refugees living in Turkey, who number around 3 million, to “voluntarily return to their homeland.”
“We are not driving away these people who have taken refuge in our country. We are telling these people, ‘If you go home, go, but go voluntarily. You are welcome, here. If you say, ‘I will go home,’ you can go home.”
The president said the issue of housing in Syria for the returning Syrians must first be resolved.
“New homes, business areas, production and energy facilities, facilities for agriculture and animal husbandry must be quickly established. The Syrian economy has also collapsed,” Erdoğan said, as he called on the international community to lift the embargo and restrictions imposed on Syria due to the Assad regime.