US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday told Turkey it was “imperative” to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in Syria following the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
His remarks came after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan in Ankara on the second leg of his Syria crisis tour following the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government.
“Our country worked very hard and gave a lot over many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of ISIS [ISIL], to ensure that that threat doesn’t rear its head again,” Blinken said at a joint press conference.
“And it’s imperative that we keep at those efforts.”
In response, Fidan told him Turkey was committed to ensuring stability in Syria “as soon as possible” and preventing ISIL from gaining a foothold there.
“Our priorities include ensuring stability in Syria as soon as possible, preventing terrorism from gaining ground and preventing ISIS and the PKK from dominating there,” he said, referring to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought a decades-long insurgency against Turkey.
Blinken also discussed the matter with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan after he flew in on Thursday night, with the pair meeting for more than an hour inside the Ankara airport, a US official said.
Erdoğan assured him that Turkey would never ease up in the fight against ISIL militants in Syria, despite its operations against Kurdish fighters seen as key to containing the extremists.
“Turkey will never allow any weakness to arise in the fight against ISIS,” Erdoğan told him.