ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Thursday for ‘concrete steps’ to be taken to rout Kurdish fighters from territory they control in northern Syria amid ongoing efforts of rapprochement with the Syrian regime.
“The concrete steps should now be taken to clear” the YPG, “especially from Tal Rifaat, Manbij in northern Syria,” Erdogan told Russian President Vladimir Putin, as reported by state-owned Anadolu Agency.
Russia, a key backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has heavily supported the Syrian regime in its quest to crush rebel forces in the country during its 12-year-long civil war, while Ankara became an enemy of Damascus and supported the rebel forces against Assad.
Turkey considers the YPG - the backbone of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - as the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey and designated a terrorist organization by Ankara.
The phone call between Erodgan and Putin follows ongoing efforts of rapprochement between Ankara and Damascus, after the defense ministers of Turkey and Syria met in Moscow just over a week ago, marking their first meeting since the Syrian civil war erupted in 2011.
A tripartite agreement between Turkey, Syria, and Russia could squeeze the Kurds in Syria to cede hard-earned territory which they used to carve out their own autonomous zone in northern and eastern Syria (Rojava) as the SDF fought the lion’s share of the battle against the Islamic State (ISIS) after the terror group swept through swathes of Syria in 2014.
The United States, a NATO ally of Turkey, has voiced strong condemnation to the idea of Turkey improving ties with Assad.
“We do not support countries upgrading their relations or expressing support to rehabilitate the brutal dictator Bashar al-Assad,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Tuesday while urging “states to carefully consider the Assad regime’s atrocious human rights record.”
On Wednesday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said that Ankara and Moscow may establish joint military patrols in northern Syria while talking about the recent Ankara-Damascus-Moscow tripartite meeting, but did not elaborate on the plans.
The SDF on Friday called on Syrians to “confront this alliance” of Russia, Syria, and Turkey and said that it sees the latest developments in the region “with suspicion.”
Turkey has been threatening to carry out a new ground offensive against Kurdish forces in northern Syria ever since it blamed them for the deadly November 13 Istanbul blast. On November 20, Ankara launched Operation Claw-Sword targeting the YPG and the PKK in northern Syria and the Kurdistan Region, after which Erdogan said the aerial campaign is a prelude to a looming ground offensive in those areas.
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