Erdogan rejects withdrawing Turkish forces from Syria
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he is ready to reconcile with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to collaborate in fighting Kurds in northeast Syria.
Erdogan, rejected, in an interview with the CNN, withdrawing Turkish forces in northern Syria despite al-Assad preconditioning talks on Ankara’s withdrawal from the territory.
Turkey has invaded Syria three times since 2016, occupying large swathes of the country’s north and positioning its armed forces along the contact line in Idlib between the Syrian government and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly al-Nusra Front), a jihadist group.
He claimed that the Turkish forces are present in Syria to “fight against terrorism”, referring Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).
Late in December 2022, a trilateral meeting took place between the defense ministers of Turkey, Syria and Russia in Moscow, marking the first high-level meeting between Syria and Turkey since the onset of the Syrian war in 2011.
On April 25, Defense Ministers of Syria, Russia, Turkey, and Iran held a quadrilateral meeting in Moscow, and discussed security issues.