--- description: A 7-year-old Syrian girl whose Twitter account went viral earlier this year embraced Turkey’s president in a recent meeting. title: Young Syrian Girl With Viral Twitter Feed Meets, and Hugs, Turkey's President image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5758cb2754f70012/6988b3a5428a9e5782cd5548/bana-alabed.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # The Young Syrian Girl Whose Twitter Feed Went Viral Got to Meet, and Hug, Turkey's President  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2016 1:28 PM CUT  Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Syrian Bana Alabed, seven-year-old girl who tweeted on attacks from Aleppo, at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on December 21, 2016. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets Syrian Bana Alabed, seven-year-old girl who tweeted on attacks from Aleppo, at Presidential Complex in Ankara, Turkey on December 21, 2016.Kayhan Ozer—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 21, 2016 1:28 PM CUT A 7-year-old [Syrian girl whose Twitter account went viral](http://time.com/4606185/bana-alabed-evacuated-aleppo/ "undefined") earlier this year after she and her family highlighted the horrors of the assault on Aleppo embraced Turkey’s president in a recent meeting. Turkey’s President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan](http://time.com/4558127/turkey-erdogan-crackdown-kurdish-coup/ "undefined") can be seen hugging little Bana Alabed and cupping her face in photos the pair posted on Twitter on Wednesday. Bana was safely evacuated from Aleppo earlier this week. “I was pleased to host @AlabedBana and her family at the Presidential Complex today,” tweeted Erdogan, who is opposed to[ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad](http://time.com/4039940/these-5-facts-explain-bashar-assads-hold-in-syria/ "undefined"). “Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria.” Bana has gained more than 352,000 followers since her account went viral. “Very happy to meet with Mr. Erdogan,” she wrote on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/AlabedBana/status/811542255286808576) > [](https://twitter.com/RT%5FErdogan/status/811548472742645760) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4608926/syrian-girl-bana-alabed-turkey-president/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4608926/syrian-girl-bana-alabed-turkey-president/"},"headline":"The Young Syrian Girl Whose Twitter Feed Went Viral Got to Meet, and Hug, Turkey's President","datePublished":"2016-12-21T13:28:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T10:32:25.536Z","description":"President Recep Tayyip Erdogan hugged little Bana Alabed and cupped her face","url":"https://time.com/4608926/syrian-girl-bana-alabed-turkey-president/","keywords":["Turkey","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5758cb2754f70012/6988b3a5428a9e5782cd5548/bana-alabed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5758cb2754f70012/6988b3a5428a9e5782cd5548/bana-alabed.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Turkish President Erdogan meets Bana Alabed evacuated from E. Aleppo","caption":"Turkish President Erdogan meets Bana Alabed evacuated from E. Aleppo","creditText":"Kayhan Ozer—Anadolu Agency/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4608926/syrian-girl-bana-alabed-turkey-president/","name":"The Young Syrian Girl Whose Twitter Feed Went Viral Got to Meet, and Hug, Turkey's President"}}]}] ```