ISTANBUL, Turkey – Turkish policy in Syria, where Ankara stands accused of aiding militants like the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) group, is likely to change under a new government, the co-chair of the pro-Kurdish People’s Democratic Party (HDP) said.
The comments by Selahattin Demirtas follow a stunning upset in Sunday’s general elections in Turkey, where the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost its parliamentary majority for the first time in 13 years and is mulling the idea of a coalition government.
"Coalition governments will not be able to continue to support groups like ISIL and other extremist groups in Syria," he said in an interview with CNN.
Turkey is an important NATO member which is involved with the United States in training and arming “moderate” rebel forces in Syria. But it has been internationally criticized for turning a blind eye to ISIS, letting militants use its territory to get fighters into Syria and smuggle goods and oil out.
In comments this week at G-7 summit in Germany, US President Barack Obama said there are still thousands of foreign fighters flowing into Syria and Iraq. In a rare rebuke, he said Turkey has not done enough to stop them.
“We are still seeing thousands of foreign fighters flowing into, first, Syria, and then, oftentimes, ultimately into Iraq,” he said at a news conference on Monday.
“And not all of that is preventable, but a lot of it is preventable -- if we’ve got better cooperation, better coordination, better intelligence, if we are monitoring what’s happening at the Turkish-Syria border more effectively,” he added.
“This is an area where we’ve been seeking deeper cooperation with Turkish authorities who recognize it’s a problem but haven’t fully ramped up the capacity they need. And this is something that I think we got to spend a lot of time on,” he said.
Earlier this year, US intelligence chief James Clapper said that the Turkish government is more concerned with its Kurdish opposition than in fighting the war against ISIS.
