Turkey says it will join with neighbors to fight the Islamic State group in Syria
ISTANBUL (AP) — Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Jordan will come together to fight the remnants of the Islamic State group, a move that would allow the United States to cut ties with Kurdish militants in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said Sunday.
Washington’s decadelong relationship with Kurdish-led forces in Syria is opposed by Turkey. Ankara says the People’s Defense Units, or YPG, are tied to another Kurdish group listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union.
The YPG, which spearheads the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, has played a central role in fighting IS alongside American special forces and now guards thousands of IS prisoners in northeast Syria.
“The basic problem is that the YPG has been guarding Daesh inmates and keeping them in prison … they’re not doing anything else,” Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Sunday, using the Arabic term for IS.
“So Turkey, Iraq, Syria and Jordan need to come together to fight Daesh. We are capable of doing that and God willing this is the step we will be taking as four countries in the near future. We have already done the preliminary talks for that process.”
Fidan, who was speaking at a news conference in Doha, Qatar, alongside Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said that the new Syrian government had indicated it will take responsibility for IS prisoners.
Turkey wants U.S. President Donald Trump to step back from supporting the Kurdish fighters, who Ankara regards as terrorists due to their links to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, which has waged war against Turkey since 1984.
“We hope that President Trump will make the right decision and right this wrong … it is an open wound that needs to be closed as soon as possible,” Fidan added.
Since Syrian rebels launched an offensive to take the country in November, Turkish-backed fighters have targeted Kurdish forces, taking a number of towns. Meanwhile, the Turkish military has maintained pressure on Kurdish fighters in both Syria and northern Iraq. On Sunday, the Defense Ministry said Turkish troops killed 23 “PKK/YPG terrorists” in northern Syria without providing further details.
Ankara has called for the Syrian Democratic Forces to be purged of elements linked to the PKK and be absorbed into a future Syrian military.
The U.S. currently has around 2,000 troops in northeast Syria. During his first term in office, Trump said he would withdraw all American forces from Syria, which triggered a Turkish offensive against the YPG in 2019.
His seemingly warm relationship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led to speculation that Trump will again seek to remove the U.S. military presence.