Erdogan urges an end to foreign support for Kurdish fighters in Syria | news

The Turkish president likens the Kurdish People’s Protection Units fighters to ISIS and says that neither group has a future in Syria.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that Turkey expects foreign countries to withdraw their support for Kurdish fighters in Syria after the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad, while Germany warns against escalating the fighting with Kurdish forces.

Speaking to reporters on his flight back from a summit in Egypt, Erdogan said there was no longer any reason for outsiders to support Kurdish fighters in the YPG. His office published his statements on Friday.

The YPG is the main force in a US-backed coalition called the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeastern Syria. Türkiye considers the People’s Protection Units an extension of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has been fighting the Turkish state for a long time, and is classified by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union as a “terrorist” group.

In his statements, Erdogan likened YPG fighters to ISIS, an armed group also known as ISIS, and said that neither group had a future in Syria.

He added: “In the coming period, we do not believe that any force will continue to cooperate with terrorist organizations. “The leaders of terrorist organizations such as ISIS, the PKK and the YPG will be crushed in the shortest possible time.”

The United States still has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria working side by side Syrian Democratic Forces. The coalition played a key role on the ground in defeating ISIS forces in 2014-2017, with US air support and continues to guard. ISIS fighters in concentration camps.

Ankara, along with its Syrian allies, launched several cross-border attacks against the Syrian Democratic Forces in northern Syria, while repeatedly calling on its NATO ally Washington to stop its support for the fighters.

Hostilities have escalated since the ouster of President Assad less than two weeks ago, with Turkey and the Syrian groups it supports seizing the city of Manbij from the Syrian Democratic Forces on December 9, prompting the United States to broker a fragile ceasefire.

Erdogan told reporters that Türkiye wants to see a new Syria in which all ethnic and religious groups can live in harmony. He added that to achieve this, ISIS, the PKK and its forms that threaten the survival of Syria must be eliminated.

Providing security for the Kurds is “necessary”

Later on Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told her Turkish counterpart that the security of the Kurdish people is crucial for Syria.

“Security, especially for the Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria,” she told reporters after her meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, warning of the dangers of any “escalation” with Kurdish forces in Syria.

Berbock also sounded the alarm about new violence in northern Syria.

The German minister said: “Thousands of Kurds from Manbij and other places are on the run in Syria or fear new violence.” He added: “I made it very clear today that our common security interests should not be jeopardized by the escalation with the Kurds in Syria.”

Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said Fidan told Birbock that it was necessary for Kurdish groups, including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party and the People’s Protection Units, to lay down their arms and dissolve themselves.

Meanwhile, a senior US diplomat said on Friday that Washington was urging a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the Syrian Democratic Forces around the volatile Syrian city known as Kobani in Kurdish and Ain al-Arab in Arabic.

“We are actively engaged in discussions with the Turkish authorities, as well as with the Syrian Democratic Forces. We believe the best way forward is a ceasefire around Kobani,” Barbara Leaf, the top US diplomat for Middle East affairs, told reporters after her first visit to Damascus since the fall of Assad. .