ANKARA, 20 Oct. - (ANA) - Short on liquidity to bankroll Syria’s reconstruction on its own, Turkey is repositioning itself as the industrial bridge between Gulf capital and reconstruction. Since Bashar Al Assad’s fall, Ankara has leaned on what it already had on the ground — proximity, SMEs in northern Syria, state agencies moving on housing and energy. But those advantages are running up against the limits of what the Turkish state and private sector can finance alone, and the reconstruction bill ahead — and the investment opportunities that come alongside it — are far larger than the trade flows that have defined the relationship so far.

 

The goal now is to pull Gulf capital in behind Turkish execution: “The relationship was mainly trade-driven; the emerging relationship must increasingly become investment- and production-driven,” Fuat Özçörekçi, who served two terms as co-chairman of Turkey–Syria Business Council and now sits on the board, tells EnterpriseAM. In the model he describes, Gulf capital provides the scale, Turkish companies bring engineering and project execution, and Syrian partners bring market access and labour.  

 

Meanwhile, Damascus is actively working on diversifying its economic partners rather than let the reopening become an Ankara monopoly,  - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/20 October 2026 - - -