Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan has denied a claim by incoming United States President Donald Trump that the toppling of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad was an “unfriendly takeover” by Turkiye.
In remarks apparently praising Ankara, Trump told a news conference earlier this week that Turkiye was “very smart” and had carried out “an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost” in Syria.
In an interview with Al Jazeera broadcast on Wednesday, the Turkish foreign minister said it would be “a grave mistake” to describe the current events in Syria as a takeover by Turkiye.
“For Syrian people, it is not a takeover. I think if there is any takeover, it’s the will of the Syrian people which is taking over now,” Fidan said.
The foreign minister also said the “last thing” that Turkiye wants is to be seen as the regional power that has final control of Syria, pointing to a culture of domination that had brought ruin to the region.
“Well, I think that would be the last thing that we want to see because we are drawing huge lessons from what’s been happening in our region, because the domination culture itself has destroyed our region,” Fidan said. “Not Turkish domination, not Iranian domination, not Arab domination, but cooperation should be essential,” he said.
“Our solidarity with Syrian people shouldn’t be characterised or defined today as if … we are actually ruling Syria. I think that would be wrong,” he added.
Asked about US media reporting on concerns that the Turkish military may be prepared to launch a major military offensive in Syria to crush Kurdish forces that are hostile to Turkiye, the foreign minister pointed to the YPG (People’s Protection Units) as an “essential threat” to his country.
The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) armed group is listed as a “terrorist organisation” by Turkiye and the West, and Fidan described the YPG as the PKK’s “extension” in Syria.
The YPG has sustained its control over territory in Syria by presenting itself as helping the West in the fight against ISIL (ISIS), the foreign minister said. “I think this is a misrepresentation of their true identity. They are there as a terrorist organisation,” Fidan said.
“Unfortunately, our Western friends … turn a blind eye to this fact that the YPG is an extension of the PKK,” he said, adding that Ankara has been calling on Washington to cease its military support for the Syrian Democratic Forces, of which the YPG is the main fighting component.
Fidan also said that Syria’s new government must tackle the issue of Kurdish forces in its territory, which would avert the need for Ankara to take action.
“There is a new administration in Damascus now. I think this is primarily their concern now. So, I think if they are going to, if they address this issue properly, so there would be no reason for us to intervene,” he said.
Local witnesses have told the French news agency AFP that there has been an increase in the number of soldiers patrolling on the Turkish side of the border, but unusual military activity has not been evident.
Fidan also said that Turkiye recognised the new administration in Syria as a “legitimate partner” for Ankara, which is why the Turkish embassy in Damascus had reopened and the ambassador has been instructed to communicate with local and central government officials.
Officials from the United Nations, European Union, and other countries have also made contact with the new administration, Fidan noted, adding that the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group – whose leader is Ahmed al-Sharaa, also referred to as Abu Mohammed al-Julani, is the de facto leader in Syria – should be delisted as a ‘terrorism’ organisation.
“I think it is time for the international community, starting from UN, you know, to remove their name from the terrorism list,” Fidan said of HTS, which is the main component of the coalition currently governing Syria.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged over the weekend that Washington is in contact with HTS, and discussions with the group were in the broad context of the future of Syria.
The US State Department placed HTS on its list of “foreign terrorist organisations” in May 2018 due to its affiliation with the al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate.
Since 2016, HTS’s al-Sharaa has moved to distance the organisation from al-Qaeda and has been positioning himself and HTS as credible caretakers of Syria in a post-Assad period.