International sanctions on Damascus must be lifted "as soon as possible" to allow Syria to get back on its feet and refugees to return home, Turkey's top diplomat said Sunday.
"The sanctions imposed on the previous regime need to be lifted as soon as possible," Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on a visit to Damascus. "The international community needs to mobilise to help Syria get back on its feet and for the displaced people to return."
Syria alone was responsible for overthrowing Bashar al-Assad, Fidan said in Damascus after meeting the country's new leaders.
"This victory belongs to you and no one else. Thanks to your sacrifices, Syria has seized a historic opportunity," he said. Turkey has repeatedly dismissed claims it had any hand in the lightning 12-day rebel offensive that ended with Assad's overthrow on December 8.
Turkey's foreign minister Hakan Fidan had met with Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus on Sunday, according to Ankara's foreign ministry.
A video released by the Anadolu state news agency showed the two men greeting each other. No details of where the meeting took place in the Syrian capital were released by the ministry.
US president-elect Donald Trump knows better than to continue Washington's backing for Kurdish fighters over supporting the security needs of its NATO ally Turkey, Ankara's top diplomat said.
"When we look at it from America's interests, as a mathematical calculation -- whether Turkey or a terrorist organisation like the PKK is more important -- Mr. Trump sees the mathematics immediately," Hakan Fidan told a news conference, referring to US support for Kurdish fighters in Syria that Turkey sees as linked to its outlawed domestic foe, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
Fidan had announced on Friday that he planned to travel to Damascus to meet Syria's new leaders, who ousted Syria's strongman Bashar al-Assad after a lightning offensive.
Turkey's spy chief Ibrahim Kalin had earlier visited the city on December 12, just a few days after Assad's fall.
Kalin was filmed leaving the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, surrounded by bodyguards, as broadcast by the private Turkish channel NTV.
Turkey has been a key backer of the opposition to Assad since the uprising against his rule began in 2011. Besides supporting various rebel groups, it has welcomed Syrian dissenters and millions of refugees.
However, Fidan has rejected claims by US president-elect Donald Trump that the rebels' victory in Syria constituted an "unfriendly takeover" of the country by Turkey.
With AFP
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