Turkey welcomes EU plan to ease Syria sanctions, in phone call with Macron

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday hailed a European Union decision to begin easing sanctions on Syria after the toppling of Bashar al-Assad, in a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

The 27-nation EU imposed wide-ranging sanctions on the Assad government and Syria's economy during its civil war.

Last month, EU foreign ministers agreed to begin easing sanctions on Syria as the West looks to build bridges with the war-ravaged country's new leadership.

Erdogan told Macron that the EU decision to begin easing sanctions against Syria was appropriate and that "it was important to completely lift them in the new period", according to the Turkish presidency.

That was the second phone call between the two leaders since December 18 when Erdogan welcomed France's decision to send diplomats to Damascus after Assad's fall.

Turkey was a key backer of interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa's Islamist-led HTS rebels who ousted Assad on December 8.

It has repeatedly offered operational and military support to help Sharaa's new government fight against armed groups still operational in war-torn Syria.

Erdogan on Tuesday held talks with Sharaa as the newly-installed interim president made his first official visit to Turkey.