Turkey will “do anything” to ensure its security if the new Syrian administration fails to address Ankara’s concerns about US-backed Kurdish groups it views as terrorist groups, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Saturday.
Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a militant group led by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has waged a 40-year insurgency against the Turkish state and is considered a terrorist group by Ankara. , Washington, and the European Union.
Hostilities have escalated since the fall of Bashar al-Assad less than two weeks ago, when Turkish and Syrian factions captured the city of Manbij from the SDF on December 9. Assad’s fall has left Kurdish factions on the back foot. It is trying to maintain the political gains made in the last 13 years.
In an interview with France 24, Fidan said that Ankara’s preferred option is for the new administration in Damascus to solve the problem, taking into account Syria’s territorial unity, sovereignty and integrity, and that the YPG must be disbanded immediately.
“If that doesn’t happen, we have to protect our own national security,” he said. Asked if that included military action, Fidan said: “Whatever it takes.”
Asked about SDF commander Majlom Abdi’s comments about the possibility of a negotiated solution with Ankara, Fidan said the group should seek such an agreement with Damascus, as there was a “new reality”.
“The new reality, hopefully, they will address these issues, but at the same time, (the) YPG/PKK, they know what we want. We don’t want to see ourselves in any kind of military threat. Not now, but potentially,” he said. added
Ankara, along with Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the YPG-led SDF in northern Syria, while repeatedly demanding its NATO ally Washington halt support for the militants.
The US-backed SDF played a key role in defeating Islamic State militants in 2014-2017 with US air support, and still protects its fighters in prison camps. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has warned that the Islamist group will try to re-establish capabilities during this period.
Fidan said he did not consider the recent increase in US troops in Syria to be a “correct decision”, saying the fight against Islamic State was an “excuse” to maintain support for the SDF.
“The fight against ISIS, there’s only one job: to put ISIS prisoners in jail, that’s it,” he said.
Fidan also said that the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which ousted Assad in Damascus, had in the past “excellent cooperation” with Ankara in the fight against Islamic State and al-Qaeda through intelligence sharing.
He also said that Turkey is not in favor of any foreign bases, including Russian, remaining in Syria, but the choice is up to the Syrian people.
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