Western interference in Middle East is over, US envoy Barrack says
ANKARA
The period of Western influence in the Middle East has come to an end, the U.S. ambassador to Türkiye and special envoy for Syria has declared, delivering a sharp criticism of both colonial legacies and foreign interventionism in the region.
“The era of Western interference is over. The future belongs to regional solutions, but partnerships, and a diplomacy grounded in respect,” Tom Barrack wrote on X on May 25.
“A century ago, the West imposed maps, mandates, penciled borders and foreign rule. Sykes-Picot divided Syria and the broader region for imperial gain — not peace,” the ambassador said, referring the 1916 accord between Britain and France — later endorsed by Russia and Italy.
The secret agreement outlined mutually agreed spheres of influence and control in the Ottoman-ruled Middle East region in the event of a future partition of the empire. The Sykes-Picot Agreement laid the foundation for the post-World War I colonial system — one of the most lasting legacies of Western dominance in the region.
“That mistake cost generations. We will not make it again,” Barrack expressed.
Barrack also noted that Washington is now backing Syrian reconstruction not through force or mandates, but through respect, unity and regional cooperation.
“We are standing with Türkiye, the Gulf and Europe — this time not with troops and lectures or imaginary boundaries, but shoulder-to-shoulder with the Syrian people themselves.
The United States formally lifted sanctions on Syria on May 23 after being announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on a Gulf tour this month during which he shook hands with Syria's president. The European Union also announced the same move last week.
Barrack’s statement aligns with recent signals from Trump who said that Washington is retreating from an interventionist posture in the region.
The U.S. would no longer be “giving you lectures on how to live,” Trump told a packed ballroom in Riyadh this month, drawing loud applause from a crowd that included Gulf officials, investors and dignitaries.
Framing past American interventions as failures, Trump encouraged regional states to “chart your own destinies.”
“The so-called nation builders wrecked far more nations than they built,” he said, adding that “interventionists were interfering in complex societies they didn’t even understand.”
Syria’s normalization drive with the United States accelerated last weekend as Istanbul hosted a high-level meeting with Barrack and Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa.
