Politics
'It is imperative' to fight ISIS in Syria, Blinken tells Turkey | National
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Turkey on Friday that it was “imperative” to work against a resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.
America's top diplomat also said he had seen “encouraging signs” that a ceasefire was being reached in the war-torn Gaza Strip.
His remarks came as part of the second leg of a whirlwind regional tour that followed the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in a blitzkrieg offensive by Islamist HTS rebels, ending five decades of repressive rule by his clan.
He flew to Turkey on Thursday evening where he met for more than an hour with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at Ankara airport, a US official said.
“Our country has worked very hard and given a lot for many years to ensure the elimination of the territorial caliphate of the Islamic State (IS), to ensure that this threat never returns,” Blinken said.
“And it is imperative that we continue these efforts.”
In response, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan told Blinken that Turkey was determined to ensure stability in Syria “as soon as possible” and “prevent ISIS jihadists” from gaining a foothold there.
On Thursday, Erdogan assured Blinken that Turkey would never let up in its fight against ISIS 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,” Erdogan said while pledging not to relax its pursuit of groups that Ankara considers a threat to its national security.
– Divisions around the Kurdish-led FDS –
As Islamist-led rebels marched on Damascus, Turkey and its proxies launched their own offensive against the Kurdish-led SDF (Syrian Democratic Forces).
Turkey views the SDF as an extension of the banned PKK (Kurdistan Workers' Party), which has been waging a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
But Washington views the force as a key ally in leading an offensive that defeated IS's self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria in 2019, with Blinken saying Thursday that the SDF was “essential” to preventing a jihadist resurgence there.
The fighting between the two proxy forces has raised concerns about the competing interests of NATO allies in Syria.
Faik Bulut, an expert on the Kurdish question, believes that Turkey is probably seeking “to take advantage of the vacuum to cleanse the region” of Kurdish fighters.
In this way, Erdogan could “be in a position of strength” during discussions with the new US President Donald Trump, he said.
With Turkey's military might, its control over its Syrian proxy forces, and its influence over the HTS rebels who toppled Assad, Erdogan could probably tell Trump: “'Give me this region and I will destroy ISIS. Give me the responsibility and you will see,'” Balut said.
– “Encouraging signs” of the truce in Gaza –
Blinken also said he saw “encouraging signs” of progress toward a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, urging Turkey to use its influence to encourage Hamas to accept it.
“We've discussed Gaza and we've discussed, I think, the desirability… of putting a ceasefire in place. And what we've seen in recent weeks are more encouraging signs that this is possible “Blinken said.
Blinken, who will leave office next month after Trump's election victory, began his tour of Jordan on Thursday in his 12th visit to the Middle East since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked the war in Gaza.
“We talked about the need for Hamas to say 'yes' to a possible deal, to finally help put an end to this,” he said.
“We very much appreciate the role that Turkey can play in using its voice with Hamas to try to reach a conclusion.”
Turkey has long maintained close ties with Hamas, viewing it as a national liberation movement rather than a banned terrorist organization like most Western countries.
A vocal critic of Israel, Erdogan has frequently hosted Hamas political leaders who have used Istanbul as one of their foreign bases during his two decades of rule.
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