Turkish foreign minister says no room for Kurdish militants in Syria's future

ANKARA: Turkey’s foreign minister said after meeting Syria’s de facto leader in Damascus on Sunday that there was no room for Kurdish militants in Syria’s future, calling for the YPG militia to disband.

Turkey regards the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militants who have fought an insurgency against the Turkish state for 40 years and are deemed terrorists by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.

Sunday’s visit to Damascus by Hakan Fidan, the first foreign minister to visit Damascus since Bashar al-Assad’s overthrow two weeks ago, came amid hostilities in northeast Syria between Turkish-backed Syrian fighters and the YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast.

Speaking alongside Syria’s de facto leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, Fidan said he had discussed the YPG presence with the new Syrian administration and believed Damascus would take steps to ensure Syria’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

“In the coming period, the YPG must come to a point where it is no longer a threat to Syria’s national unity,” Fidan said, adding the YPG should disband.

The SDF played a key role defeating Islamic State militants in 2014-2017 with U.S. air support, and still guards Islamic State fighters in prison camps. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the Islamist group would try to re-establish capabilities in this period.

Fidan said the international community was “turning a blind eye” to the “illegality” of the SDF and YPG’s actions in Syria, but added that he believed U.S. President-elect Donald Trump would take a different approach.

He said the new Syrian administration had told him during their talks that they could manage the Islamic State prison camps, if needed.

In a Reuters interview on Thursday, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle Islamic State and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Turkey. He denied any organisational ties with the PKK.

The SDF has been on the back foot since Assad’s fall, with the threat of advances from Ankara and Turkey-backed groups as it looks to preserve political gains made in the last 13 years, and with Syria’s new rulers being friendly to Ankara.

Earlier, Turkey’s defence minister said Ankara believed Syria’s new leadership, including the Syrian National Army (SNA) armed group which Ankara backs, will drive YPG fighters from all of the territory they occupy in the northeast.

Ankara, alongside Syrian allies, has mounted several cross-border offensives against the Kurdish faction in northern Syria and controls swathes of Syrian territory along the border, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington halt support for the Kurdish fighters.

Ankara had for years backed rebels looking to oust Assad and welcomed the end of his family’s brutal five-decade rule after a 13-year civil war. Turkey also hosts millions of Syrian migrants it hopes will start returning home after Assad’s fall, and has vowed to help rebuild Syria.

Fidan said all international sanctions imposed against Assad must be lifted as soon as possible to help Syria start rebuilding, offering Ankara’s assistance on matters such as infrastructure development.

Sharaa told Sunday’s press conference his administration would announce the new structure of the defence ministry and military within days.