Nuh Yilmaz, Turkey's Ambassador to Syria, presented his credentials to Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa on Monday.
Yilmaz was appointed ambassador last year.
This is an important symbolic step. Turkey has been a key supporter of Sharaa's government over the last year. This matters for the region because Syria is rebuilding and working to attract investment to the country. Damascus is seeking to rebuild peacefully, but it has some challenges.
As a key player in Syria, the Turkish ambassador assumes an important role. US Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack is also a major player in Damascus as the Trump administration's special envoy to Syria, and he also plays a role in Iraq. The appointment of Turkey's envoy to Damascus matters and could impact Israel, Lebanon, and Jordan as well.
Sharaa came to power after the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Turkey was quick to send envoys and officials to Damascus to work with the new government. Over the past year, there have been many high-level meetings as well as bilateral security cooperation, and Ankara is supplying Damascus with light armored vehicles for its security forces.
Foreign Minister Asaad Hassan al-Shaibani attended the ceremony where Yilmaz presented his credentials to Sharaa at the People's Palace in Damascus, according to Syria's state media SANA.
"Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus on December 14, 2025, following a 12-year closure. The embassy had been shut in protest of the actions of the deposed regime. Upon reopening, Burhan Koroglu was appointed as Turkey's Charge d'Affaires in Damascus," SANA noted.
Who is Nuh Yilmaz?
When Yilmaz was first appointed last year, his biography circulated online based on the Turkish Foreign Ministry. He was born in 1974 and had served as Deputy Foreign Minister from May 2024 until October 24, 2025. He was also head of the ministry's Strategic Research Center (SAM), and was chief advisor to the foreign minister.
Prior to that, Yilmaz spent a decade at Turkey's intelligence agency MIT. In 2012, he was a news editor at a newspaper. Between September 2012 and June 2013, he worked as a visiting researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR). He also worked briefly at Al Jazeera Turk. He also served as the SETA Foundation's Washington office director from December 2008 until July 2011, while also working at CNN Turk at the same time.
Yilmaz has also had an academic career. He was a lecturer at George Mason University, where he also previously held a role as a teaching assistant. In the early 2000s, he was also at Trent University and Bilkent University. This was when the current ruling party, the AK Party, came to power in Ankara. Yilmaz has a PhD from Yildirim Beyazit University and also conducted doctoral research at George Mason University. He began his undergraduate studies in Political Science and Public Administration at Marmara University in 1994.
He has authored several books and academic studies, including one called Islam'da Resin Yasagi Soylemi (The Discourse on the Prohibition of Images in Islam). In November, he wrote on X/Twitter: "I express my gratitude to our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, for appointing me as the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey to the Syrian Arab Republic, and to our [Foreign] Minister, Mr. Hakan Fidan, for their appreciation."
"During strength from the strong humanitarian and cultural ties that have existed between Turkey and Syria for centuries, we will strive to develop our relations in a way that contributes to the principles of good neighborliness and the peace and stability of our region," Yilmaz added.