Türkiye's foreign minister meets with counterparts in Riyadh

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday met with his counterparts from around the globe on the sidelines of the Riyadh meeting that discussed the latest situation in Syria.

The country's Foreign Ministry said on X that Hakan Fidan met with the UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Egyptian counterpart Badr Abdelatty, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and the foreign minister of the new administration in Syria, Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani.

Fidan also met with his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan, US Under Secretary of State John Bass and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas on the margins of the meeting.

No further information on the meetings was provided by the officials.

Foreign ministers from Arab and Western countries held a meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Sunday to discuss the situation in Syria following last month's fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

The meeting is attended by Türkiye, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Britain, and Germany. The United States and Italy are present at the level of deputy foreign minister.

The Riyadh meetings build on the outcomes of the Aqaba meetings held in Jordan on Dec. 14, 2024. These meetings emphasized support for the Syrian people and pledged to provide all possible assistance to ensure security and stability in the country.

Assad, Syria's leader for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia after anti-regime groups took control of Damascus on Dec. 8, ending the Baath Party's decades-long regime.