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Bana al-Abed, whose Twitter account gave a tragic description of the bombing of Aleppo in Syria, met Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week at his palace in Ankara after her evacuation from the city.
Mr Erdogan hugged the seven-year-old girl and held her and her brother as they sat on his knees, flanked by his wife Emine.
"Very happy to meet with Mr Erdogan," Bana wrote in a tweet with a picture of her nestling up to the cheek of a smiling Mr Erdogan.
The young Syrian girl was one of thousands of people evacuated from once rebel-held areas of Aleppo in the past days under a deal brokered by Turkey and Russia.
She was evacuated on Monday and Turkish officials had promised she would go to Turkey with her family. It was not clear when she crossed over.
"Thank you for the help in saving the children of Aleppo from the war. I love you very much," Bana told Mr Erdogan, according to the presidency.
For her 330,000 online followers, Bana is a symbol of the tragedy unfolding in Syria, although Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime has slammed her and her mother's tweets as propaganda.
Her mother Fatemah, who runs the account @AlabedBana, was also in attendance on Tuesday.
"I was pleased to host @Alabed- Bana and her family at the Presidential Complex today," Mr Erdogan said in a tweet the next day.
"Turkey will always stand with the people of Syria," he added.
Turkey is hosting some 2.7 million refugees from the Syria conflict but has made clear it now prefers to look after those recently displaced, who are not injured, on the Syrian side of the border, although it makes exceptions for special cases and the wounded.
It was not immediately clear if Bana will be staying in Turkey.
(THE STRAITS TIMES)
