The CEO of the Turkish Ziraat Bank, Alp Aslan Çakkar, said on Tuesday that the bank is closely following developments in Syria and “will assume its responsibility” in this regard if conditions are appropriate.
Before the outbreak of war in Syria, state-owned Ziraat Bank, the largest in Turkey by assets, was planning to establish a joint banking venture in Syria, but abandoned the plans in 2011.
In written answers to questions from Reuters, Cakkar also said that the bank’s goals for 2025 include raising credit by between 30% and 35% and increasing deposits in line with this.
Energy
It is noteworthy that a team of government officials is in Syria to discuss how to solve its energy problems, according to what the Turkish Minister of Energy, Alp Arslan Bayraktar, announced, indicating his country’s readiness to supply Syria and Lebanon with electricity.
Bayraktar told reporters in the southeastern city of Şanlıurfa on Monday, “Maybe the electricity needed by Syria and Lebanon will be met initially by exporting it from Turkey, and of course we can see the picture more clearly after reviewing the situation in the transmission network.”
Ankara reopened its embassy in Damascus, and has already held high-level contacts with the leader of the new administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
Commercial exchange
In terms of trade exchange, in 2023 Turkey imported products worth $363.5 million from Syria, while its exports to Syria amounted to $2 billion, which highlights Syria’s heavy dependence on Turkey to meet its needs for various products, from foodstuffs to building materials and energy.
These trade relations are expected to play a pivotal role in stimulating Syrian economic recovery in the future, according to what the Turkish Daily Sabah newspaper reported.
