Turkish president compares Kurdish YPG fighters to ISIL and says neither group has a future in Syria.
Turkiye expects foreign countries to withdraw support for Kurdish fighters in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, says President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, as Germany warns against an escalation in fighting with Kurdish forces.
Speaking to reporters on a flight home from a summit in Egypt, Erdogan said there was no longer any reason for foreigners to back Kurdish fighters with the People’s Protection Units (YPG). His comments were released by his office on Friday.
The YPG is the main force of a US-backed alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria. Turkiye considers the YPG an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has long fought against the Turkish state and is designated a “terrorist” group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.
In his comments, Erdogan compared YPG fighters to ISIL (ISIS), an armed group also known as Daesh, and said neither group has a future in Syria.
“In the next period we do not believe that any power will continue to collaborate with terrorist organizations. “The heads of terrorist organizations such as Daesh and PKK-YPG will be crushed in the shortest possible time.”
The United States still has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria working alongside the SDF. The alliance played an important role on the ground in defeating ISIL forces in 2014-2017 with US air support and still protects ISIL fighters in prison camps.
Ankara, together with its Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the SDF in northern Syria, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington stop supporting the fighters.
Hostilities have escalated since President Al-Assad was overthrown less than two weeks ago and the Turkish and Syrian groups he backs seized the city of Manbij from the SDF on December 9, prompting the United States to mediate. in a fragile ceasefire.
Erdogan told reporters that Turkiye wanted to see a new Syria in which all ethnic and religious groups could live in harmony. To achieve this, it is necessary to eradicate ISIL, “the PKK and its versions, which threaten the survival of Syria,” he stated.
Security for Kurds is “essential”
Later on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told her Turkish counterpart that the security of the Kurdish people is fundamental for Syria.
“Security, especially for the Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria,” he told reporters after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, warning of the dangers of any “escalation” with Kurdish forces in Syria.
Baerbock also raised the alarm about new violence in northern Syria.
“Thousands of Kurds from Manbij and elsewhere are fleeing in Syria or fear further violence,” the German minister said. “Today I made it very, very clear that our common security interests must not be compromised by an escalation with the Kurds in Syria.”
Fidan told Baerbock that it was essential that Kurdish groups, including the PKK and YPG, lay down their arms and disband, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said.
Meanwhile, a senior US diplomat said on Friday that Washington was urging a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF around the Syrian city known as Kobane in Kurdish and Ain al-Arab in Arabic.
“We are vigorously working on talks with the Turkish authorities, also with the SDF. We believe the best path forward is a ceasefire around Kobane,” Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for the Middle East, told reporters after her first visit to Damascus since the fall of al-Assad.
