Ömer Çelik, deputy chair and spokesperson of Türkiye’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party), told reporters on Wednesday that Ankara had no role in recent developments in Syria where anti-regime forces captured a key city and are advancing toward another one.
Çelik said at a news conference in the capital, Ankara, that Türkiye did not desire an escalation of violence in its southern neighbor. “Developments in Syria stem from its own internal dynamics,” he highlighted. He was responding to allegations that Türkiye was unfairly accused by some circles on this issue.
“Allegations that Türkiye incited the latest developments are baseless,” he said. Çelik also hit out at the main opposition, the Republican People’s Party (CHP), which claimed Türkiye’s policy toward Syria involved weakening Iran’s presence.
“We don’t have a policy to strengthen or weaken any state. We are in Syria only for Türkiye’s interests and carried out operations (for counterterrorism) in certain places,” he said.
Türkiye has a lengthy border with its southern neighbor Syria and has long struggled to keep it safe as the terrorist group YPG, the Syria wing of PKK, gained a foothold on its border. It carried out several cross-border operations against the group and backed Syrian opposition forces to drive away the PKK from towns it occupied. Syrian opposition forces captured Tal Rifaat, held by the PKK/YPG, in parallel with the latest offensive of Syrian anti-regime forces towards Aleppo, though without any support from Türkiye.
Çelik stated that the regime carried out several attacks targeting Idlib and caused civilian losses, adding that it raised tensions. “Our president repeatedly conveyed Türkiye’s concerns about these tensions. Eventually, we witnessed the reaction to these tensions,” he said. “It is an outright lie that Türkiye incited this (offensive). We always raised our voices against any clash and supported the status quo. We conveyed this to all parties to the conflict,” he stated.
On the Syrian National Army’s (SNA) capture of Tal Rifaat, Çelik said relevant parties failed to expel the terrorist group from Tal Rifaat and this posed a threat to Türkiye. “The regime invited terrorist groups to places it abandoned. This lays bare the cooperation between the Assad regime and terrorist groups. We don’t want terrorist groups in Tal Rifaat and Manbij,” he said, referring to hotbeds of PKK/YPG activity.