Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visits al-Julani

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani in the Syrian capital, Damascus. Hakan Fidan stated that he intends to visit Damascus to meet with the new administration.

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Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan visits al-Julani

New developments continue to unfold in Syria following the end of the Assad regime.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with HTS leader Abu Mohammad al-Julani.

Deputy Foreign Minister Nuh Yılmaz, Turkey's Chargé d'Affaires to Damascus Burhan Köroğlu, and Esaad Hasan Sheiban, who was appointed as the Foreign Minister of the Syrian interim government, were also present at the meeting.

HE RESPONDED TO THE QUESTION 'DO YOU PLAN TO VISIT DAMASCUS'

In a statement to the France-based broadcaster France 24 yesterday, when asked, "Do you plan to visit Damascus and meet with the HTS leader?", Hakan Fidan replied, "Yes, I plan to. I plan to meet with the new administration in Damascus."

Regarding the question of why Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) has not been removed from Turkey's terror list, Fidan responded, "Our inclusion of them on the list is a matter related to the UN list. Of course, we comply with UN Security Council resolutions, but there is now a different situation where the legal dimension and the de facto dimension contradict each other," adding that they have "good cooperation with HTS on intelligence sharing in the fight against ISIS" and that "they have been very helpful to us."

Here are the highlights from the meeting between Hakan Fidan and al-Julani: