Türkiye Pressing US to Rethink Kurdish Alliance in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
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Türkiye Pressing US to Rethink Kurdish Alliance in Syria

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan takes part in a joint statement after he meets with his Greek counterpart Giorgos Gerapetritis (not pictured) in Athens, Greece, 08 November 2024. (EPA)

Türkiye is pressing the United States to reconsider its support for Kurdish militants in Syria, according to comments by its leaders including President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has again floated the possibility of a new cross-border offensive.

"We are constantly reminding our American counterparts that they need to stop the cooperation they have with the terrorist organization in Syria," Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was quoted on Monday as telling the Milliyet newspaper.

"Our contacts on this issue have increased. We see that the US side is keen on more talks and negotiations too," he added.

On Sunday, Erdogan said Türkiye could mount a new offensive into northern Syria to create new safe zones along its border, after saying on Friday that he would discuss a possible US troop withdrawal from Syria with President-elect Donald Trump.

Strains in US-Türkiye ties include US support for the Syrian Kurdish YPG group, Washington's main ally against ISIS in Syria. Ankara calls it a terrorist organization and extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which the United States also deems a terror group.

NATO member Türkiye has carried out several cross-border operations against the YPG in recent years and has since threatened more.

Erdogan said on Sunday these moves established safe zones in Syria that had "thwarted attempts to surround" it from the southern borders, and Türkiye was determined to "completely cut off contact between terrorist organizations."

"God willing, we will complete the missing links of the safe zone we have established along our borders in coming period," he said.

In recent months Erdogan has also made overtures to repair severed ties with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government after a decade of animosity.

Ankara has complained that Damascus has not reciprocated its attempts at rapprochement, after Erdogan said in July he wanted to invite Assad for talks. Assad said those attempts have yielded no results and Damascus wants Turkish troops to withdraw from Syrian territories.



Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
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Berri to Asharq Al-Awsat: Resolution 1701 Only Tangible Proposal to End Lebanon Conflict

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and US envoy Amos Hochstein in Beirut. (AFP file)

Politicians in Beirut said they have not received any credible information about Washington resuming its mediation efforts towards reaching a ceasefire in Lebanon despite reports to the contrary.

Efforts came to a halt after US envoy Amos Hochstein’s last visit to Beirut three weeks ago.

Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri dismissed the reports as media fodder, saying nothing official has been received.

Lebanon is awaiting tangible proposals on which it can build its position, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

The only credible proposal on the table is United Nations Security Council resolution 1701, whose articles must be implemented in full by Lebanon and Israel, “not just Lebanon alone,” he stressed.

Resolution 1701 was issued to end the 2006 July war between Hezbollah and Israel and calls for removing all weapons from southern Lebanon and that the only armed presence there be restricted to the army and UN peacekeepers.

Western diplomatic sources in Beirut told Asharq Al-Awsat that Berri opposes one of the most important articles of the proposed solution to end the current conflict between Hezbollah and Israel.

He is opposed to the German and British participation in the proposed mechanism to monitor the implementation of resolution 1701. The other participants are the United States and France.

Other sources said Berri is opposed to the mechanism itself since one is already available and it is embodied in the UN peacekeepers, whom the US and France can join.

The sources revealed that the solution to the conflict has a foreign and internal aspect. The foreign one includes Israel, the US and Russia and seeks guarantees that would prevent Hezbollah from rearming itself. The second covers Lebanese guarantees on the implementation of resolution 1701.

Berri refused to comment on the media reports, but told Asharq Al-Awsat that this was the first time that discussions are being held about guarantees.

He added that “Israel is now in crisis because it has failed to achieve its military objectives, so it has resorted to more killing and destruction undeterred.”

He highlighted the “steadfastness of the UN peacekeepers in the South who have refused to leave their positions despite the repeated Israeli attacks.”