“As of this week, Syria has decided to reduce customs duties on 269 products, including key Turkish exports such as chicken, eggs, flour, corn, milk, cream, iron and steel products, and hygiene goods,” Bolat announced during an event in Ankara.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Sunday after talks in Baghdad that a joint battle using "all our resources" must be carried out to eliminate both Islamic State and Kurdish militants in the region.

It already appears evident that the days of Russia serving as its leading arms supplier have come to an ignominious end.

No country has as much to gain from a stable Syria as Turkey, and few have as much to lose if it implodes. Turkey is home to more than 3m Syrian refugees, and wants Syria to be safe enough for many to return.

Ankara eyes lower customs duties and the reactivation of a free trade deal, though there are Syrian concerns it will cost Damascus economic autonomy

Commercial flights between Turkey and Syria have resumed after 13 years with a Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul to Damascus.

Turkey and Syria have agreed to reevaluate customs tariffs for certain products and they discussed economic and trade relations during meetings in Damascus, the Turkish trade ministry said on Friday.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan urged for a unified effort to combat Islamic State and Kurdish militants after his Baghdad talks. Turkey, branding the YPG and PKK as terrorists, seeks regional support and new cooperation strategies.

Member countries’ foreign ministers are meeting to discuss a “road map” to lift financial restrictions, but any change will happen in stages.

More than 50,000 Syrian refugees have left Turkey to return home since Bashar al-Assad's ouster. But for many others living in the country, the thought raises a host of worrying questions. In Altindag,

Assad’s final ouster appeared abrupt, it had its roots in Syria’s 2011 antigovernment protests, and Syrians will now face many of the same problems that beset other Arab countries after their Arab Spring revolutions.

Turkey has emerged as one of the most influential power brokers in Syria after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad last month, ending his family's brutal five-decade rule. NATO member Turkey is now in a position to influence its neighbour's future diplomatically,