Turkey raps France, says US only counterpart in northeast Syria

EU could gradually ease Syria sanctions if 'tangible progress': Kallas

FE Team | Published: January 10, 2025 23:34:37

Last month, Syrian Kurds had to flee an onslaught by Ankara-backed groups — AFP

ISTANBUL, Jan 10 (AFP): Turkey's top diplomat on Friday said Washington was its only interlocutor in northeastern Syria and urged France to repatriate its jihadist nationals jailed in the country.
The remarks by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan came as Washington tried to dissuade its NATO ally from escalating an offensive against Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria.
Ankara has threatened military action against the SDF, a US ally which has been key in fighting Islamic State group militants and which controls dozens of prisons and camps where jihadists are held.
Turkey sees the group as linked to its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which is considered a terror organisation by Ankara and many of its Western allies.
"The US is our only counterpart" for developments in northeastern Syria, Fidan said, dismissing the concerns of other western nations about the potential return of jihadists to their own countries.
"Frankly we don't take into account countries that try to advance their own interests in Syria by hiding behind US power," he said.
France, he said, was ignoring Turkey's security concerns by not repatriating French jihadists but leaving them to be guarded by the SDF, which Turkey sees as a threat to its own national security.
"They have a policy, they do not bring ISIS prisoners back to their own countries. But they do not care about our security," he said, insisting Turkey's only aim was to ensure "stability" in Syria.
Asked about the possibility of a French-US troop deployment in northeast Syria, he said France's main concern should be to take back its nationals.
"If France had anything to do, it should take its own citizens, bring them to its own prisons and judge them," he said.
Despite Washington's insistence on the SDF's crucial role in keeping the extremists at bay in northeastern Syria, Fidan said last month its only job was "keeping ISIS prisoners in jail".
"Unfortunately, our American friends and some European friends are using a terrorist organisation to keep the other terrorists in prison," he said in an interview with France24.
Reuters adds: Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also said on Friday that the new Syrian administration should be given an opportunity to address the presence of Kurdish militants in the country, and reiterated that the Turkish military would act if it did not.
Since the toppling of President Bashar al-Assad last month by rebels - some of which have been backed by Turkey for years - Ankara has repeatedly said the Kurdish YPG militia must disband, lay down its weapons, and have its foreign fighters leave Syria.
"We see that there is an agenda in the new administration to end the occupation and terror that the YPG has created in the region," Fidan told a press conference in Istanbul.
"We believe that an opportunity needs to be given to them to realise this. We are waiting for this now," he said, without saying how long Turkey would wait.
Fidan said he did not expect any problems with the United States in counter-terrorism in Syria despite its support for the YPG, even if this was a matter for the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.
Ankara, he said, is reviewing its presence in parts of northern Syria where it controls territory after several cross-border incursions against the YPG.
"We are in a new period... (and) our presence there will have to, God willing, evolve into a different dimension if everything goes well," he said.
Asked about the role of Russia in Syria and the fate of its military bases in coastal Syria, Fidan said he believed Moscow had taken a "very rational" decision by cutting its support for Assad amid the rebels' advance toward Damascus.
The future of its air and naval bases depended on negotiations with the new Syrian administration, he said.
AFP adds: The European Union could begin lifting sanctions on Syria if the war-torn country's new rulers take steps to form an inclusive government that protects minorities, the bloc's top diplomat said Friday.
"The EU could gradually ease sanctions provided there is tangible progress," foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas wrote on X, a day after a meeting of Western powers in Rome.