With Assad gone, Turkey urges Syrian opposition to unite, warns against PKK
The top Turkish diplomat struck a composed tone following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad and called for unity among the Syrian opposition.
DOHA/ANKARA — Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan on Sunday urged Syrian opposition groups to unite after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria.
“Opposition groups should be united now,” Fidan told reporters on the sidelines of the Doha Forum in Qatar.
Amid scrutiny over Turkey’s role in the Islamist-led rebel offensive, Fidan avoided adopting a triumphalist tone as Turkish-backed Syrian rebels celebrated in and around Damascus. Since the Syrian civil war began in 2011, Ankara has been a principal supporter of Syrian opposition groups, including some factions that joined the offensive led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham. However, Turkey classifies HTS as a terrorist organization.
“We hope they can come together and start working in an orderly manner to have a good transition period, to end by including all the parties inside Syria,” Fidan said.
Fidan's statements mark Turkey’s first official reaction to the fall of Damascus early Sunday. Fidan outlined Ankara’s priorities as facilitating a peaceful transition, preserving Syria’s territorial integrity and curbing the influence of Syrian Kurdish groups, which Ankara regards as a top national security threat.
“This is my key message to everyone: Avoid bloodshed. All communities in Syria must be included,” Fidan said.
He added that Turkey is in contact with the rebel groups it supports to prevent both the Islamic State (ISIS) and the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces — which Ankara considers a terrorist organization — from exploiting the situation.
In a concurrent armed campaign alongside the HTS-led offensive, Turkish-backed groups under the Syrian National Army captured the Syrian town of Tell Rifaat in northern Aleppo from the SDF last week. Tell Rifaat is one of two strategic locations west of the Euphrates, including Manbij, still held by the US-backed group.
By Sunday afternoon, Turkish security sources told local media that SNA forces had seized control of approximately 80% of Manbij.
“We are watchful and mindful to make sure that Daesh and the PKK (Kurdistan Workers Party) are not taking advantage of this situation,” Fidan said, using the Arabic name for ISIS. Ankara equates the Kurdish-led SDF with the PKK, which has waged an armed insurgency inside Turkey since 1984. Both the PKK and the SDF are labeled as terrorist organizations by Turkey, while the PKK is also recognized as such by the US and the EU. However, the SDF serves as the primary ally of the US-led international coalition against ISIS in Syria. Ankara has repeatedly urged Washington to end its alliance with the Kurdish-led group.
Earlier in the day, Turkish Defense Minister Yasar Guler discussed the latest developments in Syria during a phone call with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin.
“We are in contact with our American partners. They understand how sensitive we are on this issue,” Fidan said.
Efforts to return refugees
Fidan also announced that Turkey had initiated efforts to repatriate some Syrian refugees.
The conflict, compounded by the devastation caused by ISIS — which, at its peak, controlled nearly a third of Syria — has displaced 14 million people since 2011, according to UNHCR data from March. Approximately 5.5 million Syrians have fled to neighboring countries, including Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey, with Turkey hosting more than 3 million refugees, over half of the total.
Meanwhile, Syrians in Turkey celebrated in various provinces following the fall of Damascus. Earlier Sunday, a group in Istanbul entered the Syrian consulate and replaced the Syrian Arab Republic flag with the flag adopted by Syrian armed opposition groups.
