President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said the Assad regime needs to engage in a sincere political process to de-escalate the situation in Syria, as he spoke with Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shia al-Sudani over the phone on Tuesday.
Erdoğan said “The Syrian regime should engage in a genuine political process to prevent the circumstances from further deteriorating,” according to a statement by Türkiye’s Communications Directorate.
He told the Iraqi leader that Ankara has taken and will continue to take steps, in line with its national security and interests, to prevent the PKK terrorist group and its extensions, from taking advantage of recent developments.
Erdoğan also said Ankara’s priority lies in “preserving peace beyond its borders as well as the protection of civilians from harm.”
He highlighted the importance of Syria’s “unity, stability, and territorial integrity,” adding that Türkiye is “on the same page with Iraq on this issue.”
Clashes broke out on Nov. 27 between Assad regime forces and anti-regime armed groups in the western countryside of Aleppo in northern Syria, marking a re-escalation of the fighting after a period of relative calm in the civil war that has gripped Syria since it erupted in 2011.
Amid Syrian anti-regime groups’ lightning offensive, the PKK/YPG sought to take advantage of Syrian regime forces withdrawing from parts of the country and create a “terror corridor” connecting Tal Rifaat to northeastern Syria but was thwarted by the Syrian opposition’s Syrian National Army (SNA).
The corridor would have linked the PKK/YPG-held northeastern regions to Tal Rifaat, a strategic area northwest of Aleppo.
Turkish security sources have said the Assad regime has been abandoning territories under its control in the eastern Euphrates region to PKK/YPG and this helped the terrorist group to dispatch terrorists from eastern Euphrates to the Aleppo, along with heavy weaponry.
Türkiye has been a supporter of the Syrian opposition in its efforts to drive away terrorist groups PKK/YPG and Daesh in Syria’s north. Ankara’s cross-border offensives helped the Syrian National Army to take control of areas near the Turkish border, which were plagued with terror attacks.
Syrian anti-regime forces started an unprecedented advance toward Aleppo to take control of the province from the Assad regime forces last week, reigniting the long-frozen civil war.