ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey’s foreign minister, defence minister and the head of the MIT intelligence agency are in Damascus on a working visit, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said on Thursday, without providing details.
The visit follows the outbreak of sectarian violence in Syria this week, pitting the security forces from Syria’s new Islamist-led government – backed by Turkey – against fighters from toppled President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority.
It also follows an agreement between the Kurdish-led and U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and Syrian government to integrate the group into Syria’s institutions. In exchange, the agreement provides for the transfer of state SDF-controlled civilian and military institutions in northeast Syria, as well as border crossings, an airport and oil and gas fields there.
Turkey regards the SDF, which controls much of northeastern Syria, as a terrorist group linked with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group, which has waged a decades-old insurgency against the Turkish state for over 40 years.
The PKK is deemed a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
Since the ousting of Assad last year by rebels, some of whom have been backed by Turkey for years, Ankara has repeatedly said the YPG militia, which spearheads the SDF, must disarm, disband, and send its foreign fighters out of Syria.
Turkey has mounted several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years, and a Defence Ministry official said on Wednesday that attacks on Kurdish militants in Syria were still continuing.
Turkey has welcomed the SDF-Damascus deal, but said it would need to see its implementation to ensure the YPG does not end up joining Syrian state institutions or security forces as a bloc, while maintaining its demands from the group.
Last month, the jailed leader of the PKK called on the group to disarm, after which the militants announced they would cease all hostilities, while calling for more freedoms for its leader.
Ankara has become one of the main foreign allies of the new Syrian government since rebels ended Assad’s rule, vowing to help rebuild the country and help train its armed forces.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu, Editing by Ece Toksabay and Timothy Heritage)
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