Turkish FM Fidan to visit Washington amid Syrian President’s US trip
Turkish FM Hakan Fidan will visit Washington, coinciding with Syrian Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa's White House meeting. Both visits signal a potential regional realignment as the US engages formerly adversarial governments.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will travel to the United States on Monday, for a series of meetings focused on bilateral and regional issues, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a written statement released Saturday.
The announcement noted that Fidan’s discussions in Washington would cover a wide range of topics, including regional security, counterterrorism, and cooperation frameworks between Türkiye and the United States.
His visit comes at a diplomatically significant moment, coinciding with the Interim Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s official visit to Washington, a development widely described as a historic turning point in US-Syrian relations.
According to the Turkish Foreign Ministry statement dated Nov. 9, Minister Fidan’s trip will begin on Monday, the same day President Donald Trump is scheduled to receive Ahmed al-Sharaa at the White House.
Observers note that the two visits — while unrelated in their official agendas — underscore a complex and rapidly shifting regional landscape in which both Ankara and Damascus are recalibrating their positions with Washington.
Al-Sharaa arrived in the US on Saturday, marking the first visit by a Syrian head of state since 1946, following his removal from the US terrorism blacklist just one day earlier.
The Syrian leader’s visit represents one of the most remarkable political transformations in modern Middle Eastern history. Less than a year ago, Ahmed al-Sharaa led the rebel forces that toppled the five-decade-long Assad regime, but this week he walks into the White House as an internationally recognized head of state.
The US State Department announced on Friday that al-Sharaa had been formally removed from its “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” list, citing significant progress made by his government.
State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the move recognized Syria’s new leadership and its efforts to cooperate on the recovery of missing Americans and to eliminate remaining chemical weapons stockpiles.
The decision followed a UN Security Council resolution that also lifted sanctions on al-Sharaa, with 14 members voting in favor and only China abstaining. The measure cleared the path for his entry into the US and formal diplomatic engagement.
The White House visit is viewed as the culmination of months of behind-the-scenes diplomacy aimed at reintroducing Syria into international legitimacy.
US officials, including Special Envoy Tom Barrack, have said they hope al-Sharaa will formally join the US-led coalition against ISIS, signaling the potential for deeper cooperation on regional security.
According to diplomatic sources cited by AFP, Washington is even considering the establishment of a joint coordination base near Damascus to facilitate humanitarian aid delivery and monitor developments along the Syrian-Israeli border.
Meanwhile, Syrian state media reported that the Interior Ministry carried out 61 anti-ISIS raids over the weekend, resulting in 71 arrests across multiple provinces — including Aleppo, Idlib, Homs, and Deir al-Zor — in what officials described as a “proactive campaign” against sleeper cells.
For Ankara, Fidan’s Washington visit comes at a time of regional recalibration, as both the US and Syria signal potential shifts in their engagement.
The visit also comes amid growing speculation about Türkiye’s role in mediating future arrangements in post-conflict Syria — an arena where Ankara has long sought to preserve both its security interests and humanitarian commitments.
While the Turkish Foreign Ministry has not disclosed details on whether Fidan and al-Sharaa might cross paths in Washington, the symbolic overlap of their visits highlights a moment of fluid diplomacy and shifting alliances in the Middle East.
Analysts note that the developments could mark a new phase in regional relations, with both Türkiye and the new Syrian government engaging Washington from markedly different positions than in previous years.
As alSharaa prepares to meet President Trump, and Fidan readies his agenda of bilateral talks, Washington this week has become the focal point of a potentially historic realignment — one that could reshape the dynamics between Ankara, Damascus, and Washington for years to come.
