Before 1998, Turkey had problems with Syria. Our relations were problematic because of their support of the terrorist group, the PKK. After 2000, when Bashar al-Assad came to power, the relations began to develop rapidly. In 2000, we had bilateral trade reaching near $2.5 billion. We had investments in Syria. We have relatives. People went back and forth. We had a visa exemption with Syria. In 2009, we held a meeting just at the border with two prime ministers and 10 ministers.
After the Arab Spring began, the Assad regime stopped responding to the needs of its own people. It became a human tragedy, which also became a humanitarian tragedy.