ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey will do “whatever it takes” to ensure its security if the new Syrian administration cannot address Ankara’s concerns about U.S.-allied Kurdish groups it views as terrorist groups, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Saturday.
Turkey regards the YPG, the militant group spearheading the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington, and the European Union.
Hostilities have escalated since the toppling of Bashar al-Assad less than two weeks ago, with Turkey and Syrian groups it backs seizing the city of Manbij from the SDF on Dec. 9. Assad’s fall has left the Kurdish factions on the back foot as they seek to retain political gains made in the last 13 years.
In an interview with France 24, Fidan said Ankara’s preferred option was for the new administration in Damascus to address the problem in line with Syria’s territorial unity, sovereignty, and integrity, adding that the YPG should be disbanded immediately.
“If it doesn’t happen, we have to protect our own national security,” he said. When asked if that included military action, Fidan said: “whatever it takes.”
Asked about SDF commander Mazloum Abdi’s comments about the possibility of a negotiated solution with Ankara, Fidan said the group should seek such a settlement with Damascus, as there was “a new reality” there now.
“The new reality, hopefully, they will address these issues, but at the same time, (the) YPG/PKK, they know what we want. We don’t want to see any form of military threat to ourselves. Not the present one, but also the potential one,” he added.
Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the YPG-led SDF in northern Syria, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halt support for the fighters.
The U.S.-backed SDF played a major role defeating Islamic State militants in 2014-2017 with U.S. air support, and still guards its fighters in prison camps. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the Islamist group would try to re-establish capabilities in this period.
Fidan said he didn’t find the recent uptick in U.S. troops in Syria to be the “right decision”, adding the battle against Islamic State was an “excuse” to maintain support for the SDF.
“The fight against ISIS, there is only one job: to keep ISIS prisoners in prisons, that’s it,” he said.
Fidan also said that the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which swept into Damascus to topple Assad, had “excellent cooperation” with Ankara in the battle against Islamic State and al-Qaeda in the past through intelligence sharing.
He also said Turkey was not in favour of any foreign bases, including Russian ones, remaining in Syria, but that the choice was up to the Syrian people.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Alistair Bell)
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