On Thursday, Cypriot Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos met with Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sarrah in Damascus.
The Cypriot foreign minister said his meetings with Syria’s interim leadership had produced “encouraging results.”
Cyprus’ main concern is returning Syrian refugees and ensuring that the new regime in Damascus does not make an illegal maritime deal with Turkey that aims to steal Cypriot maritime space.
Days ago, it was announced that Greece and Cyprus would veto lifting EU sanctions on Syria if the HTS leader pursued a deal outside the confines of the Law of the Sea. Any slow lifting of the sanctions would be conditioned on immediately imposing them again if Damascus makes an illegal deal with Turkey.
The fact that Cypriot officials were apparently invited to Damascus suggests that this sanctions threat had a positive effect on deterring the interim Syrian government from making an illegal deal with Turkey.
Kombos arrived at the presidential palace in Damascus at around 13:00 local time, where he was welcomed by his Syrian counterpart Assad al-Shibani. He then met with Syrian interim president Ahmed al-Sarrah.
In statements after the two-hour meeting, Kombos said that the purpose of his visit to Damascus “was to express the will of the Republic of Cyprus to contribute with a positive agenda, to a positive perspective for Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, both at the bilateral level and within the EU.”
“The relations are deep, historic, and our goal is to see how we can help Syria’s transition to return to the international community as a full member, with the legitimacy that is expected and required,” he noted.
“Of course,” he continued, “this requires the basic principles of good neighborliness, respect for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of states.”
“The results today are positive and encouraging, but it is a first step from which we will try to continue for the purpose I mentioned above,” he noted.
Asked if any ideas have been expressed by the Syrian side regarding how the Republic of Cyprus could contribute, the Cypriot minister said that “we have had an extensive discussion,” noting that this concerns both the bilateral level in terms of investment interest and issues related to assistance within the EU, as well as technocratic assistance and political assistance.
“There is a positive will and response, hence the invitation for today’s meeting”, he said, adding that “we expect a constructive continuation of this effort.”
Noting that Syria is a neighboring country, the minister said that its security, stability, and progress affect and concern the Republic of Cyprus, “and therefore, we will do everything we can to assist this effort, always within the framework of reciprocity, common interests, and the common concern for the security and stability of the region.”
Responding to the meeting, Greco-Levantine Worldwide activist journalists said, “We hope they discussed the situation of the Antiochian Greeks, and that the meeting was not limited to mere formalities.”
Preceding the Cypriot visit, Greek Foreign Minister Giorgos Gerapetritis was in Damascus on February 9 and met with Ahmed al-Sharaa.
In statements after the meeting, Gerapetritis stated, among other things, that he discussed with the former Islamist rebel how “the new institutions of Syria” should be “absolutely compatible with International Law and, in particular, with the Law of the Sea.”
According to statements in December by Turkish government officials, including Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and the Chairman of the National Defense Committee of the Turkish Grand National Assembly and former Defense Minister Hulusi Akar, Turkey is seeking to conclude an agreement with the Syrian interim government to delimit an Exclusive Economic Zone, along the lines of the illegal agreement that Ankara concluded with the Libyan interim government in 2019.
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