Fidan meets Arab, EU diplomats for talks on Syria

Fidan meets Arab, EU diplomats for talks on Syria

RIYADH
Fidan meets Arab, EU diplomats for talks on Syria

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with other top diplomats from the Middle East and Europe in the Saudi capital on Jan. 12 to discuss Syria, as world powers weigh sanctions relief and push for stability after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

The Riyadh talks included a meeting of Arab officials as well as a broader gathering with Türkiye, France, the European Union and the United Nations.

Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, who led the main group in the alliance that overthrew Assad, is pushing for sanctions relief. His administration is represented at the meeting by Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.

Western powers, including the United States and the European Union, imposed sanctions on Assad's government over his brutal crackdown on anti-government protests in 2011, which triggered civil war.

More than 13 years of conflict have killed over half a million Syrians, left infrastructure destroyed and the people impoverished, while millions have fled their homes.

Possible priorities for relief include "those sanctions that are hindering the building up of a country, access to banking services and all these things," EU's top diplomat Kaja Kallas told reporters in Riyadh on Jan. 12.

"If we see the developments going to the right direction we are ready to do the next steps," she said, adding there also had to be "a fallback position."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told reporters in Riyadh that her government wanted a "smart approach" that would enable aid to reach Syrians.

"Sanctions against Assad's henchmen who committed serious crimes during the civil war must remain in place... Syrians now need a quick dividend from the transition of power," she said, adding that Germany would provide another 50 million euros "for food, emergency shelter and medical care."

The meetings on Jan. 12 represent a continuation of talks on post-Assad Syria held last month in Jordan.

After those discussions, diplomats called for a Syrian-led transition to "produce an inclusive, non-sectarian and representative government formed through a transparent process."

U.S. Under Secretary of State John Bass also attended the Riyadh meeting, coming from talks in Türkiye that covered "regional stability, preventing Syria from being used as a base for terrorism and ensuring the enduring defeat of ISIL."

He was among those Fidan was to meet on the sidelines of the talks, as well as Shaibani, Kallas and Baerbock.

Meanwhile, Turkish diplomatic sources called on participating countries to establish a coordination mechanism or committees to bolster normalization efforts in Syria.

“As countries in the region, we bear the greatest responsibility for steering the developments in Syria in the right direction,” they told local media. “We, as Türkiye, are ready to do our part to ease the difficult path ahead for the Syrian people.”

The sources offered to work together to strengthen the new administration's capacity to effectively fight ISIL, while calling on SDF to "announce its dissolution if it is sincere in its efforts to integrate with the government."

Turkish officials repeatedly say SDF is an attempt to rebrand PKK, which is listed as a terror group by Türkiye, the EU and the U.S.

During an online press briefing last week in Ankara following high-level talks, Bass said any “foreign terrorist” present inside post-Assad Syria should leave the country.

The comments by Bass – a former ambassador to Ankara – came after being asked about Fidan’s recent call for PKK and YPG to dissolve, leave Syria or face a potential military operation.

"We are in agreement with the Turkish government and a number of other governments that Syria cannot be and should not be a safe haven for foreign terrorist organizations or foreign terrorist fighters,” Bass told reporters.