Türkiye’s priority is ensuring stability in Syria and preventing the Daesh and PKK terror groups from gaining a foothold there following the ouster of Bashar Assad, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Friday.
Speaking alongside U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the capital of Ankara, Fidan said the two discussed ways of establishing prosperity in Syria and ending terrorism in the country.
“Our priorities include ensuring stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground, and preventing Daesh and the PKK from dominating there,” he said.
Blinken said: “We’re very focused on Syria, very focused on the opportunity that is now before us and before the Syrian people to move out from under the shackles of Bashar Assad to a different and better future for the Syrian people, one that the Syrian people decide for themselves.”
The two also discussed the possible Turkish and U.S. roles for Syria’s future and the imperative of continued U.S.-Turkish efforts to keep the Daesh terror group out of Syria, according to Blinken.
Blinken said there was a common focus between Türkiye and the U.S. on what they would like to see in Syria with Assad overthrown.
“There’s broad agreement on what we would like to see going forward, starting with the interim government in Syria, one that is inclusive and non-sectarian and one that protects the rights of minorities and women” and does not “pose any kind of threat to any of Syria’s neighbors,” Blinken said.
The anti-regime groups that toppled Assad in Syria have not made their policy or stance clear on Israel, whose military in recent days has bombed sites all over the country, saying it is trying to prevent weapons from falling into extremist hands.
Blinken also said it was crucial to keep the Daesh terrorist group under control.
“We also discussed the imperative of continuing the efforts to keep ISIS down. Our countries worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said, using an alternative acronym for Daesh.
‘Encouraging signs’ of Gaza truce
Blinken and Fidan said they had also discussed a cease-fire for Gaza.
Blinken also said he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, urging Türkiye to use its influence to encourage Hamas to accept.
“We discussed Gaza, and we discussed, I think, the opportunity … to get a cease-fire in place. And what we’ve seen in the last couple of weeks are more encouraging signs that that is possible,” Blinken said.
Blinken, who leaves office next month following Donald Trump’s election victory, began his Syria tour in Jordan on Thursday on what was his 12th visit to the Middle East since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, which sparked the war in Gaza.
“We talked about the imperative of Hamas saying ‘yes’ to the agreement that’s possible, to finally help bring this to an end,” he said of his talks with both Erdoğan and Fidan.
“And we appreciate very much the role that Türkiye can play in using its voice with Hamas to try to bring this to a conclusion,” he added.
Türkiye has long had close ties with the leadership of Hamas, viewing it as a national liberation movement rather than a proscribed terror organization like most Western nations.
A blistering critic of Israel and its actions in Gaza, Erdoğan has frequently hosted Hamas’ political leadership, who have used Istanbul as one of their foreign bases during his two-decade rule.
PKK/YPG in Syria
Erdoğan told Blinken that Türkiye would take preventive measures in Syria for its national security against terrorist organizations, including the YPG, the Syrian offshoot of the PKK, a terrorist group that has waged a bloody terror campaign in Türkiye since 1984 and has killed at least 40,000 people.
Washington backs the PKK/YPG under the guise of a fight against the Daesh terrorist group.
The outgoing Biden administration is particularly concerned that a power vacuum in Syria could exacerbate already heightened tensions in the region, which is already wracked by multiple conflicts, and create conditions for the Daesh terror group to regain territory and influence.
Ankara, meanwhile, is concerned the PKK/YPG could exploit the security vacuum to push its agenda for a terror corridor along Turkish borders.
The NATO allies are at loggerheads over Washington’s support for the PKK/YPG.
Erdoğan assured Blinken that Ankara would not allow any weakness in the fight against Daesh and would prevent PKK and its affiliates from taking advantage of the situation.
Before arriving in Ankara, Blinken said the PKK is an “enduring threat” to Türkiye.
The PKK/YPG, which enjoyed freedom of movement in Syria under the Assad regime, feels the heat from the Syrian National Army, which is bent on retaking towns occupied by the terrorist group as it now sets its sights on Raqqa.
Although the terrorist group enjoys military support from the U.S. as a “partner in the fight against the terrorist group Daesh,” it found itself in dire straits due to the advances of the SNA. Recently, the group’s supporters launched a social media campaign, appealing to Israel to help them stave off the attacks.
The U.S., meanwhile, said it will maintain its presence in eastern Syria, where the PKK/YPG is concentrated, and will take necessary steps to “prevent a resurgence of Daesh,” an official said Monday.
The U.S. is estimated to have 900 troops in eastern Syria as a hedge against Daesh terrorists.