Turkey will not accept Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s protection of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Turkey’s presidential and foreign policy council member said on Wednesday.
“We are hearing such news. I am not sure what Assad will think before the end of the day,” the Turkish official told the Sputnik News Agency while commenting on the Syrian government’s proposal for Kurdish fighters in northeastern Syria to join the army to ward off the common enemy. “We will not accept that Assad is the protector of the PYD that’s for sure.”
Before the recent agreements on Syria, there was a high probability that the Kurds could establish an independent or small state in northeastern Syria, especially east of the Euphrates. “But now, after the Turkish Spring of Peace operation , the PYD has failed to reach that goal. In addition to losing its main financier, the United States, the party’s efforts are further weakened,” the Turkish official continued.
“That is why they are trying to diversify their relations, to find a protector, of course a new financier, so they are looking here and there. For this purpose they can even communicate with the Russians to support them … But even if they get involved with the Assad army, I don’t think they will have that influence,” she said.
The Turkish military operation “Peace Spring” in northeastern Syria was stopped after a lengthy meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian resort city of Sochi on October 22, 2019, where the two sides agreed on several points on Syria, most notably the withdrawal of the YPG to a depth of 30 kilometers from the Turkish border towards Syria, and their departure from the towns of Tel Rifaat and Manbij.
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