The US-backed Kurdish militias in Syria must “disband or they will be disbanded“, warned last night Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, quoted by DPA, writes BTA.
Fidan is referring to the People's Protection Forces, which control large parts of northeastern Syria along the border with Turkey and which Ankara considers a terrorist organization.
All fighters in the People's Protection Forces who are not from Syria must leave the country “as soon as possible”, Fidan said in an interview with Turkish television NTV.
In the next phase, the entire command of the People's Protection Forces must also leave Syria, and the remaining personnel must disarm, the Turkish foreign minister warned. minister.
According to Fidan, the transitional Syrian government will not allow the People's Protection Forces to exploit Syrian oil fields.
Turkey considers the People's Protection Forces to be an offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, and both organizations are terrorist organizations according to Ankara.
The United States, on the other hand, views the People's Protection Forces as an ally in the fight against Islamic State extremists in Syria, DPA notes.
The Turkish foreign minister pointed out that the new Syrian government will have to take responsibility for containing Islamic State, which remains active in Syria and where it has its members in prison.
DPA points out that now, after the change of power in Syria, Turkey is considered the most influential foreign factor.
Turkey is expected to reopen its embassy in the capital Damascus today, which was closed in 2012 due to the country's civil war.
Turkey has persuaded Russia and Iran not to intervene in Syria during the rebel offensive that toppled President Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish foreign minister said.
After an 11-day offensive, a rebel coalition led by the Islamist group "Hayat Tahrir al-Sham" toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad on Sunday (December 8), who Russian authorities say is in Russia with his family. As a long-time supporter of rebel groups in Syria, Turkey welcomed Bashar al-Assad's departure, AFP recalls.