Türkiye has been working hard to maintain the new government in Syria, ensure political stability, restructure the state institutions and provide economic development. Ankara continues to work with the new Syrian administration.
The first step was Türkiye's discouragement of other regional states and global powers from attacking the opposition groups during the recent military operation against the Assad regime. After the overthrow of the longtime repressive Baath regime, Ankara has changed its priorities in Syria. Before the Syrian revolution, the priority of Türkiye was preventing the PKK terrorist group's Syrian wing, YPG, from establishing a de facto independent political entity in northeast Syria. However, Ankara has changed this priority in favor of territorial integrity and political stability of Syria after the revolution.
This change of priority was a paradigm shift in Türkiye’s Syrian policy, because ensuring political stability and territorial integrity of the Syrian state is much more critical than the prevention of a YPG-led political entity. While the first one is a largely local issue, the second one has larger regional implications.
Before the Syrian revolution, the priority was preventing the YPG from establishing a de facto independent political entity in northeastern Syria. However, Ankara has also broadened its focus to support the territorial integrity and political stability of Syria after the revolution.
This change of priority was a paradigm shift in Türkiye’s Syrian policy, because ensuring political stability and territorial integrity of the Syrian state is much more critical than the prevention of a YPG-led political entity. While the first one is a largely local issue, the second one has larger regional implications. Although the YPG issue has three interrelated dimensions (its impact on Turkish domestic politics, the future of Syria and the intervention of global powers), the protection of the Syrian territorial integrity has many additional dimensions such as ensuring regional security, preventing the emergence of terrorist groups in the region and forming regional stability axes.
In the second step, Türkiye worked to promote international recognition of the new regime in Syria. Ankara has encouraged the new leadership in Damascus to initiate diplomatic dialogue with other Arab states. Ahmad al-Sharaa made important explanations, explaining that they did not intend to export their revolution to other regional countries. Thus, the new Syrian administration allayed the concerns of other Arab states, especially the Gulf countries. Eventually, many Arab states initiated diplomatic dialogue with the new Syrian government and exchanged high-level meetings.
The third step was Türkiye's attempt to get the sanctions against Syria lifted. The U.S. and European countries imposed heavy economic sanctions against the previous Syrian government due to its repressive policies during the civil war. Türkiye assured the Western countries that if they lifted the sanctions, the new government would be able to secure political stability in the country and prevent the emergence of terrorist groups in the region.
Türkiye mediated between the new Syrian government and the U.S. administration to soften the sanctions and lift some of them. Türkiye also contributed greatly to al-Sharaa’s success in garnering support from the Arab Gulf and lifting most sanctions. U.S. President Donald Trump announced last week that he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria. Trump, who met with al-Sharaa in Riyadh during his visit to Saudi Arabia, implied that Erdoğan persuaded him to make his decision.
Similarly, the EU, which followed the footsteps of the U.S., decided to lift economic sanctions on Syria. By doing so, the EU contributed to the post-war recovery of the Syrian state. Erdoğan welcomed the decision to lift the sanctions.
Economic sanctions imposed by Western countries were seen as the biggest obstacle to Syria’s economic recovery. One of the most important impacts of the lifting of sanctions will be Syria’s reintegration into the global financial and economic system.
Now, it is time for the Syrian government to try attracting investments. For example, after the explanations made by the Western officials, Syrian Finance Minister Yisr Barnieh invited global investors to do business in the country. Companies and banks from regional countries (the Gulf states and Türkiye) and the Western states will benefit from the decisions to lift sanctions on Syria. Especially, Türkiye is expected to play a decisive role in the reconstruction of the country.
Eventually, an important threshold was crossed to ensure political stability in the country and to restructure state institutions. Although the security problems continue in Syria, the lifting of sanctions will change the conditions on the ground. The sooner the government solves the economic problems of the country, the sooner it will be able to overcome internal or external security threats. The Turkish government, which has been supporting the longtime call for respecting the country’s territorial integrity, will continue its cooperative policy toward the new administration.
