It’s important that the new Syrian state is one where different ethnic and religious groups live side by side in peace, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told his Emirati counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in a phone call on Monday.
Erdoğan and Al Nahyan discussed the latest situation in Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad, in Palestine under Israeli attacks, as well as bilateral, regional and global issues, the Turkish Presidency’s Directorate of Communications said in a statement on X.
Türkiye will never accept that the PKK/YPG terrorist group in Syria should be considered an interlocutor and the representative of Kurds in the region, Erdoğan told Al Nahyan, the directorate said.
Erdoğan stressed that the Daesh terrorist group must be prevented from exploiting the regional turmoil and Israel must be prevented from undermining the new process in Syria by exploiting the current situation.
“Türkiye will continue working to end the massacres committed in Palestine,” Erdoğan added.
The YPG is the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, which has fought the Turkish state in a four-decade terror campaign and is classified as a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.
The PKK/YPG seeks to carve out a self-styled Kurdish autonomous region. The terrorist group found freedom of movement when Syria was mired in a civil war and sought to legitimize itself through a so-called autonomous administration. Their self-styled entity benefited from the vast military assistance of the United States, which partnered with the YPG/PKK under the guise of fighting Daesh.
Ankara says the YPG/PKK is on par with Daesh and should have no presence in the new Syria.
Syria’s new rulers said all armed groups in the country would be integrated into the Defense Ministry.
Syria’s de-facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, who led the anti-regime offensive that toppled Assad, has said his administration would not allow the country to serve as a base for the terrorist PKK/YPG and reiterated that Syria must remain united.