Erdogan calls for an end to foreign support for Kurdish fighters in Syria | News

Turkish president compares Kurdish YPG fighters to ISIL and says neither group has a future in Syria.

Turkey expects foreign countries to withdraw support for Kurdish fighters in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, as Germany warns of an escalation of fighting with Kurdish forces.

Speaking to reporters on a flight home from a summit in Egypt, Erdogan said there was no longer any reason for foreigners to support Kurdish fighters from the People's Protection Units (YPG). His comments were released by his office on Friday.

The YPG is the main force in a U.S.-backed alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northeastern Syria. Turkey views the YPG as an extension of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has long fought the Turkish state and is designated as a terrorist group by Ankara, Washington and the European Union.

In his remarks, Erdogan compared YPG fighters to ISIL (ISIS), an armed group also known as Daesh, and said neither group had a future in Syria.

In the coming period, we do not believe that any power will continue to collaborate with terrorist organizations. The leaders of terrorist organizations such as Daesh and the PKK-YPG will be crushed as soon as possible.

The United States still has 2,000 troops on the ground in Syria, working alongside the SDF. The alliance played a major role on the ground in defeating ISIL forces between 2014 and 2017 with US air support and still keeps ISIL fighters in prison camps.

Ankara, alongside its Syrian allies, has launched several cross-border offensives against the SDF in northern Syria, while repeatedly demanding that its NATO ally Washington end its support for the fighters.

Hostilities have intensified since President al-Assad was toppled less than two weeks ago and Turkish and Syrian groups he supports captured the town of Manbij from the SDF on Dec. 9, prompting the U.S. to negotiate a fragile ceasefire.

Erdogan told reporters that Turkey wanted to see a new Syria in which all ethnic and religious groups could live in harmony. To achieve this, ISIL, the PKK and its variants, which threaten Syria's survival, must be eradicated, he said.

The security of the Kurds is essential

Later Friday, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told her Turkish counterpart that the security of the Kurdish people was essential for Syria.

Security, especially for Kurds, is essential for a free and secure future for Syria, she told reporters after meeting Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, while warning of the dangers of any escalation with Kurdish forces in Syria.

Baerbock also sounded the alarm over new violence in northern Syria.

Thousands of Kurds from Manbij and other localities are fleeing to Syria or fear further violence, the German minister said. I have made it very clear today that our common security interests must not be compromised by an escalation with the Kurds in Syria.

Fidan told Baerbock that it was essential that Kurdish groups, including the PKK and YPG, lay down their arms and disband, Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said.

Meanwhile, a top US diplomat said on Friday that Washington was demanding a ceasefire between Turkish-backed forces and the SDF around the sensitive Syrian town known as Kobane in Kurdish and Ain al- Arab in Arabic.

We are actively working on discussions with the Turkish authorities, as well as with the SDF. We believe the best path forward is a ceasefire around Kobane, Barbara Leaf, the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East, told reporters after her first visit to Damascus since the fall of Al-Qaeda. Assad.