Ankara’s comments come after it announced plans for a new military offensive against US-backed Kurdish militants
Turkey’s top diplomat has pledged to assist the Syrian government in efforts to oust Kurdish fighters based in the country’s northeast, regarded as “terrorists”Ankara, in spite of a recent rise in tensions following Turkey’s threats to launch military actions on its behalf.
Turkish broadcaster TV100 interviewed Mevlut Cavrusoglu on Wednesday. He stated that his country was ready to support Damascus in its fight against Kurdish militants under the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces.
“We will give all kinds of political support to the work of the [Syrian]This is the right of every government. It is the most natural right of the regime to clear a terrorist organization in its own territory,” the FM said of the SDF, which is present in Syria’s northeastern extremity.
Cavusoglu went on to say that Turkey had also reached out to Iran on the matter, as the Islamic Republic has long fought in support of the Syrian government against rebels and jihadist groups during the country’s decade-long civil war.
However, while Damascus has periodically sparred with Kurdish fighters, it has largely focused its efforts on Sunni militant factions – some linked with al-Qaeda and Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) – and has even cooperated with the SDF and allied Kurdish units in that fight at times.
The Syrian government has yet to respond to Ankara’s offer of support, but has vocally opposed any unilateral Turkish military action on its soil. In June, Turkey announced plans for a new offensive in Syria’s Kurdish-controlled regions, saying it would create a 30-kilometer “safe zone”The Turko-Syrian frontier, which is a similar plan to the previous Turkish operations at border cities like Manbij.
Syria responded with a resolute response. It reportedly strengthened a few positions in the Hasakah-Raqqa regions using Russian troops, warning it wouldn’t tolerate Turkish forces. “aggression.”
Ankara seems unaffected by these warnings as it already initiated armed operations in Hasakah, and other areas, including an attack that killed a female Kurdish commander close to Qamishli. Washington sent condolences following years of failed attempts to train Sunni rebels to overthrow Damascus’ government.
Cavusoglu called the American statement “shaming” and has criticized it. “unacceptable” “a good example of the insincerity of the United States in the fight against terrorism.”
However, while Turkey remains fixated on Kurdish groups, it also maintains its own force of paramilitary fighters in Syria which it dubs the ‘Syrian National Army,’ largely made up of remnants of the rebel Free Syrian Army, another formerly US-backed faction. Damascus was urged by the FM to make distinctions between these two factions. “terrorists”And the “moderate opposition,”This may refer to units of Turkish support operating in Syria.
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