Security for the Kurdish people is critical for Syria to have a secure future, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told her Turkish counterpart in Ankara on Friday, Agence France-Presse reported.
“Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria,” she told journalists after meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, warning of the dangers of any “escalation” with Kurdish forces in Syria.
Earlier Friday, Baerbock raised the alarm over fresh violence in northern Syria, where Turkish troops and Ankara-backed fighters have been battling the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a Kurdish-led group supported by the US.
Ankara sees the SDF as an extension of its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) which has led a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil, with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan insisting Friday it was “time to neutralize the existing terror organizations in Syria.”
Her comments came as concerns grew over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain al-Arab, after pro-Turkish fighters seized Manbij and Tal Rifaat, two other key Kurdish-held towns.
As Islamist-led Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) rebels pressed their advance that toppled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish-backed fighters began a parallel operation against Kurdish-led forces in the north, sparking clashes that left hundreds dead in just a few days.
“Thousands of Kurds from Manbij and other places are on the run in Syria or are afraid of fresh violence,” the German minister said.
“I made it very, very clear today that our common security interests must not be jeopardized by an escalation with the Kurds in Syria.”
No foothold for ISIL
But she expressed understanding for Ankara’s “legitimate” security concerns, saying “northeast Syria must not pose a threat to Turkey” while also warning that jihadists of the Islamic State (IS), also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), must not be allowed to regain a foothold in Syria.
“No one would be helped if the real winner of a conflict with the Kurds turned out to be the terrorists of IS. That would be a security threat for Syria, Turkey and also for us in Europe.”
According to a foreign ministry source, Fidan told her the PKK and the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) — the main force within the SDF — did not represent the Kurdish people.
“The view that the PKK/YPG represents the Kurds in Syria is wrong,” the source quoted him as saying, stressing Turkey would never allow such “terrorist organizations to abuse the situation in Syria.”
“We expect all our allies to respect Turkey’s security concerns,” he added.
Baerbock also said Berlin would judge Syria’s new HTS rulers on the basis of their actions amid concerns over the group’s al-Qaeda origins.
“A radical Islamist order will only lead to new fragmentation, new oppression and therefore new violence,” she said.
“We will judge the new rulers by their actions.”