Turkish, US, Syrian top diplomats to weigh details of Syria’s release from US sanctions

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ANTALYA, Turkey (Reuters) – The foreign ministers of Turkey, the United States and Syria will meet in southern Turkey on Thursday to discuss details of U.S. President Donald Trump’s pledge to lift sanctions on Syria, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday.

In a surprise announcement, Trump said on Tuesday he would order the lifting of sanctions on Syria at the behest of Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

It was a major U.S. policy shift ahead of his meeting on Wednesday with Syria’s Islamist President Ahmed al-Sharaa, the crown prince, and Erdogan, who joined virtually.

The removal of the sanctions has long been a key goal for Riyadh and Ankara, which emerged as one of the main foreign allies of Syria’s new leadership after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was ousted in December, ending 14 years of civil war.

Erdogan has repeatedly urged Trump to rescind the U.S. sanctions on Syria since the president returned to the White House in January.

Speaking to state broadcaster TRT Haber ahead of an informal NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in the southern Turkish province of Antalya, Fidan said the leaders’ meeting on Wednesday was of “historic importance”.

He said the lifting of sanctions would enable financial flows, investment and infrastructure development in Syria, which was politically fractured and left in widespread ruins by the war.

“Now tomorrow, we, as the three foreign ministers – Mr. Rubio, Mr. Al-Shibani, and myself – will come together after the NATO meeting in Antalya and we will work on how to carry forward the details of the agreement that the leaders set the framework for and agreed upon,” Fidan said, referring to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shibani.

“Of course, there is a (congressional) leg to this matter in the United States, there is an administration leg, but there is a will that Mr. Trump has put forth from the start. Within the framework of this will, and the work we will do, we hope the majority of these sanctions will be lifted as soon as possible.”

Removing U.S. sanctions that cut Syria off from the global financial system will clear the way for greater engagement by humanitarian organisations working in Syria, easing foreign investment and trade as the country rebuilds.

(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; editing by Mark Heinrich)