Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Syria’s newly-appointed President Ahmed al-Sharaa discussed deepened security ties – including a response to Kurdish fighters in northeast Syria – during a meeting in Ankara.
The visit on Tuesday marked al-Sharaa’s second international trip since officially becoming Syria’s interim leader, having met Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh earlier this week.
Al-Sharaa led the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebel group that toppled the government of longtime Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad in a lightning offensive in December.
Speaking alongside al-Sharaa at a news conference in Ankara, Erdogan said Turkiye was ready to partner with Syria’s new leadership, particularly when it came to fighting the armed group ISIL (ISIS) and Kurdish fighters based in northeast Syria.
“I would like to express our satisfaction for the strong commitment my brother Ahmed al-Sharaa has shown in the fight against terrorism,” Erdogan said.
“I told al-Sharaa we are ready to provide the necessary support to Syria in the fight against all kinds of terrorism, whether it be Daesh or the PKK,” he added, referring to the Arabic acronym for ISIL and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.
Turkiye, which shares a border with Syria, views several Syrian Kurdish groups located near its southern demarcation as “terrorists”. These include the PKK as well as the People’s Protection Units (YPG).
The YPG makes up a large portion of the United States-supported Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which controls a large swath of Syria’s northeast.
The SDF remains the key ally in a US-led coalition fighting ISIL in Syria. But since the fall of al-Assad, Turkish officials have increasingly pushed to take over the operation.
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