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Blinken Set to Visit Ankara to Discuss Situation in Syria

Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Türkiye, at the Oncupinar border gate, near the town of Kilis, southern Türkiye, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Türkiye, at the Oncupinar border gate, near the town of Kilis, southern Türkiye, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
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Blinken Set to Visit Ankara to Discuss Situation in Syria

Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Türkiye, at the Oncupinar border gate, near the town of Kilis, southern Türkiye, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Syrians wait to cross into Syria from Türkiye, at the Oncupinar border gate, near the town of Kilis, southern Türkiye, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to visit Ankara on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria after the ouster of its President Bashar Assad in a lightning offensive by opposition factions.
Blinken is set to meet with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, a Turkish official said.
On Tuesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirmed that Syria should be governed by its people, following the ousting of Assad's regime, the Turkish Anadolu Agency reported.
The Turkish president made these remarks during a phone call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, a press release from the Turkish presidency's communications office said.
Erdogan emphasized during the call that "Türkiye will do its utmost to contribute to building a Syria free from terrorism”. He added that Türkiye has defended Syria's territorial integrity and stability since the beginning of the civil war in 2011," German news agency DPA said.

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Arab World

Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
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Erdogan Warns No Place for 'Terrorist' Groups in Syria

This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)
This handout photograph taken and released by Turkish Presidency Press Office on January 7, 2025, shows Türkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (R) shaking hands with Prime minister of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan Region Masrour Barzani (L) prior to their meeting at the Presidential Complex in Ankara. (Photo by Turkish Presidency Press Office / AFP)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said there was no place for "terrorist organizations" in Syria under its new leaders, in a warning regarding Kurdish forces there.

The fall of Syrian strongman Bashar al-Assad last month raised the prospect of Türkiye intervening in the country against Kurdish forces accused by Ankara of links to armed separatists.

Erdogan's comment came during a meeting in Ankara with the prime minister of Iraq's Kurdish region, Masrour Barzani, the Turkish leader's office said in a statement.

Erdogan told Barzani that Türkiye was working to prevent the ousting of Assad in neighboring Syria from causing new instability in the region.

There is no place for "terrorist organizations or affiliated elements in the future of the new Syria," Erdogan said.

Ankara accuses one leading Kurdish force in Syria, the People's Protection Units (YPG), of links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in Türkiye.

The PKK has fought a decades-long insurgency against the Turkish state and is banned as a terrorist organization by Ankara and its Western allies.

The Turkish military regularly launches strikes against Kurdish fighters in Syria and neighboring Iraq, accusing them of PKK links.

On Monday, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said: "The elimination of the PKK/YPG is only a matter of time."

He cited a call by Syria's new leader Ahmed al-Sharaa, whose Hayat Tahrir al-Sham group has long had ties with Türkiye, for the Kurdish-led forces to be integrated into Syria's national army.

The United States has backed the YPG in its fight against ISIS, which has been largely crushed in its former Syrian stronghold.

But Fidan warned that Western countries should not use the threat of IS as "a pretext to strengthen the PKK".