Burhan, Erdogan Discuss Boosting Cooperation Between Sudan, Türkiye

A handout photo made available by the Turkish President Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Sudanese Army general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan (L) pose for a photo during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 13 September 2023. (EPA/ Turkish President Press Office Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish President Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Sudanese Army general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan (L) pose for a photo during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 13 September 2023. (EPA/ Turkish President Press Office Handout)
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Burhan, Erdogan Discuss Boosting Cooperation Between Sudan, Türkiye

A handout photo made available by the Turkish President Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Sudanese Army general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan (L) pose for a photo during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 13 September 2023. (EPA/ Turkish President Press Office Handout)
A handout photo made available by the Turkish President Press Office shows Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) and Sudanese Army general Abdel Fattah Abdelrahman al-Burhan (L) pose for a photo during their meeting at the Presidential Palace in Ankara, Türkiye, 13 September 2023. (EPA/ Turkish President Press Office Handout)

Head of Sudan’s ruling Sovereign Council and army chief Gen. Abdel Fattah al-Burhan held on Wednesday bilateral talks and discussed ways to boost cooperation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the presidential palace in Ankara.

Burhan arrived in Ankara on an official visit, accompanied by a delegation composed of Foreign Minister-designate Ali al-Sadiq, intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Ahmed Ibrahim Mufaddal, and Director General of the Defense Industries Corporation Lt. Gen. Mirghani Idris Suleiman.

Separately, Sudanese military air raids on Nyala killed at least 40 civilians and wounded roughly 60, according to a medical source. Eyewitnesses reported that this coincided with the Sudanese army conducting overflights.

Fighting flared again on Tuesday in Nyala between the military and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They exchanged artillery bombardment and clashed with heavy weapons in the vicinity of a military area.

The Nyala Emergency Room Initiative said on Facebook that the raids on the Almalaja market and other areas led to casualties among civilians. The tally could not be carried out due to heavy clashes between the military and the RSF.

Witnesses reported the death of at least eight people, adding that the RSF was not deployed in the targeted areas.

The East Nile Emergency Room in Khartoum said that 45 people were killed and 120 injured in the raids and drone attacks that targeted areas in El- Haj Yousif, El Wihda, and Dar es Salaam in the past two days.

In a Facebook post, it stressed that these are "preliminary" figures.

Meanwhile, residents revealed that army drones launched strikes on the RSF locations in the East Nile areas and towns in Nasir Extension in east Khartoum.

Eyewitnesses reported that they heard an exchange of artillery bombardment and fierce clashes between the army and the RSF in Omdurman.

Local sources added that the RSF attacked the ammunition camp near the Armored Corps Command in Al Shajara, southern Sudan.

The RSF revealed in a statement that the attacks launched by the army in Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri killed more than 104 people and wounded hundreds on Monday and Tuesday.



Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
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Erdogan: Kurdish Militia in Syria Will Be Buried If They Do Not Lay Down Arms

A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)
A Syrian Kurd waves the flag of YPG (People's Protection Units) near Qamishli's airport in northeastern Syria on December 8, 2024, following the fall of the capital Damascus to anti-government fighters. (Photo by Delil SOULEIMAN / AFP)

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday that Kurdish fighters in Syria will either lay down their weapons or "be buried", amid hostilities between Türkiye-backed Syrian fighters and the militants since the fall of Bashar al-Assad this month.
Following Assad's departure, Ankara has repeatedly insisted that the Kurdish YPG group must disband, asserting that the group has no place in Syria's future. The change in Syria's leadership has left the country's main Kurdish factions on the back foot.
"The separatist murderers will either bid farewell to their weapons, or they will be buried in Syrian lands along with their weapons," Erdogan told lawmakers from his ruling AK Party in parliament.
"We will eradicate the terrorist organization that is trying to weave a wall of blood between us and our Kurdish siblings," he added.
Türkiye views the Kurdish YPG group- the main component of the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) - as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia, which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
The PKK is designated a terrorist organization by Türkiye, the United States and the European Union. Ankara has repeatedly called on its NATO ally Washington and others to stop supporting the YPG.
Earlier, Türkiye's defense ministry said the armed forces had killed 21 YPG-PKK militants in northern Syria and Iraq.
In a Reuters interview last week, SDF commander Mazloum Abdi acknowledged the presence of PKK fighters in Syria for the first time, saying they had helped battle ISIS and would return home if a total ceasefire was agreed with Türkiye, a core demand from Ankara.
He denied any organizational ties with the PKK.
Erdogan also said Türkiye would soon open its consulate in Aleppo, and added Ankara expected an increase in traffic at its borders in the summer of next year, as some of the millions of Syrian migrants it hosts begin returning.