Erdogan says Turkey will help Syria restructure state and draft constitution

Turkey will assist the new Syrian administration in Damascus in restructuring the state and will also help draft a new constitution for the country, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday.

The Turkish leader said Ankara has was already working with Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Ahmed al-Sharaa and others on forming the new constitution, which he described as the most important step for the country, which overthrew longstanding president, Bashar al-Assad, earlier in December.

“We will assist the Syrian administration by transferring our experiences,” Erdogan told journalists who accompanied him during a trip to Cairo.

“Drafting an inclusive constitution and building a political system that will shape Syria’s future are just as crucial,” he added.

Sharaa, better known by his nom de guerre Abu Mohammed Jolani, said earlier this week that Syria wants to establish strategic ties with Ankara.

Although there is no overt support from the Turkish government for HTS, both parties have been engaging with each other for years.

Ankara reportedly greenlit the operation to capture Aleppo last month, leading to the events that unseated Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“There are many elements that this new administration especially needs. We will not leave them alone on these issues,” Erdogan said, promising that Ankara would support the new administration in areas such as energy, humanitarian aid, and rebuilding the country after years of war.

“Soon, our foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, will also visit the region. They will work together to build the new structure,” he added.

Ankara believes that reconstruction is an essential condition for the return of nearly three million Syrian refugees currently living in Turkey.

Turkish officials also expect the international community to lift the sanctions imposed on Syria during the Assad regime.

According to the Turkish president, Ankara would also work to stop the threat posed by Kurdish separatist groups on Turkey’s southern borders.

“The end of the road is in sight for the terrorist organisations,” Erdogan said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and its offshoots in Syria.

Ankara views the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in Syria as an organisation directly linked to the PKK.