ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Wednesday that their tensions with the Kurdish forces in northern Syria are the concern of the new administration in Damascus, adding that if the issue is addressed “properly” Ankara will not seek a military intervention. This comes amid reports of a potential Turkish offensive on Kobane city.
“There is a new administration in Damascus now. I think this is primarily their concern now,” Fidan said during an interview with the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera.
“I think if they are going to, if they address this issue properly, so there would be no reason for us to intervene,” he added.
Fidan’s comments were in response to a question regarding the possibility of the Turkish army launching a cross-border offensive into Kobane, which is located on the Syria-Turkey border.
Turkey and the Syrian militia groups it supports, who call themselves Syrian National Army (SNA), have prepared to strike Kobane after rebels toppled Bashar al-Assad’s regime earlier this month. They first moved against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by attacking Tal Rifaat and Manbij and eventually taking them.
Turkey considers the People’s Protection Units (YPG), the backbone of the SDF, as the Syrian front for the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) - designated as a terrorist group by Ankara.
The current authority in Damascus, led by a coalition of militia groups spearheaded by the Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), has not spoken against the Kurdish autonomous administration in northeast Syria (Rojava) since they toppled Assad.
A spokesperson for Syria’s transitional government told Rudaw on Wednesday that no authority other than the central government in Damascus will be recognized.
“We will not accept any part of Syrian territory to remain outside the control of the current government in Damascus,” Obeida Arnaout said without mentioning Rojava.
The SDF is the US-led global coalition’s main ally on the ground to combat the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
Fidan, however, said portraying the group as an anti-ISIS group is a “misrepresentation”.
“I think this is a misrepresentation of their true identity. They are there as a terrorist organization,” he claimed.
“Unfortunately, our Western friends… turn a blind eye to this fact that the YPG is an extension of the PKK,” he lamented, adding that his country has been calling on the US to cut military support for the SDF.
Following clashes between the SDF and the SNA, the US brokered a four-day ceasefire between the Kurdish-led force and Turkey last week, which a State Department spokesperson said was extended through the end of the week on Tuesday.
The ceasefire extension came amid a proposal by SDF General Commander Mazloum Abdi for a demilitarized zone in Kobane under US supervision, an initiative he said “aims to address Turkish security concerns and ensure the long-term stability of the region.”
Amid the possibility of a Turkish attack, prominent US Senators Lindsey Graham and Chris Van Hollen, of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively, warned that they will introduce bilateral sanctions legislation on Turkey if it does not accept a US-brokered ceasefire.
“The United States must immediately use all the tools at our disposal to press for a sustained ceasefire and a demilitarized zone. If Turkey does not accept those terms, we tend to introduce bipartisan sanctions legislation this week,” a joint statement from both senators said.
Senator John Kennedy of the Republican party, called on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to leave the Kurds alone, during remarks he made at the Senate floor on Tuesday.
“President Erdogan, the distinguished president of Turkey, leave the Kurds alone,” Kennedy said.
“The Kurds are America's friends… The people most responsible for helping us, most responsible for destroying ISIS were the Kurds,” he added.