Turkey and the government of Bashar Assad have reached a tentative agreement which is expected to progress in coming days, in matters they have in common, Turkey’s defence minister said on Saturday.
Turkey told officials of the Assad government that its “only aim is fighting against terrorism” and that it is “not an invader” during the first high-level reconciliation talks between defence ministers and intelligence chiefs of the neighbouring countries, held in Moscow on 28 December, Hulusi Akar said in an interview with Habertürk TV.
“On those issues, naturally perhaps, the parties might have maximalist demands,” Akar said, when asked about the Syrian government’s statements putting the withdrawal of Turkish troops from northern Syria as a precondition for reconciliation between Ankara and Damascus. “We are trying to pull those [demands down] to a rational level,” Akar added.
“At the moment, almost one third of Syria is under the control of terrorists,” he said, referring to the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) in northern Syria.
Akar said that the YPG is nothing but the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) rebranded in order to legitimise its presence in Syria, adding that any claim that the YPG and the PKK are different groups is an “insult” to the intelligence of the Turkish government.
“So we ask what will happen if we withdraw from those areas,” Akar said, in relation to the Damascus government’s demands for the withdrawal of Turkish forces from northern Syria.
“At the moment, if you consider the issue objectively, the YPG is the group that is causing the highest level of harm to the regime,” Akar said, accusing the Kurdish group of stealing the wealth of the Syrian people by exploiting the country’s grain and petrol production for financial gains.
The minister said that the two neighbours could establish a joint working group that would consist of technical personnel and military officials to co-operate on pressing issues including the safe return of almost five million Syrians currently in Turkey.
“A tentative agreement has been reached. We expect to progress in coming days,” Akar said.
The Moscow-brokered rapprochement efforts between Ankara and Damascus are expected to continue with a meeting in early May, with the added participation of Iran.
“We are always engaged in operations, either in northern Iraq or in northern Syria” Akar said, when asked whether Ankara plans a new large-scale operation against the YPG.
“We never tie this issue to a specific condition,” the minister said, adding that Turkey can launch a new operation whenever needed.