Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan was in Damascus yesterday, where he met with Ahmed Al-Sharaa, better known as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani. “This is not a time to wait and see; we must act. Territorial integrity is non-negotiable. Once again, we affirm that there is no place for PKK/YPG in Syria,” Fidan was quoted by Rudaw as declaring. Fidan was referring to the People’s Protection Units (PKK/YPG) Kurdish militia that dominates the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). “The PKK/YPG must dissolve itself immediately,” he added. Fidan said that the PKK is “occupying Syria” and is “stealing Syria’s resources and has established a terror haven.”
For his part, Sharaa said that all the weapons in the country must come under state control, including those in the SDF-held areas. “We will absolutely not allow there to be weapons in the country outside state control, whether from the revolutionary factions or the factions present in the SDF area,” he said. He also said that all the factions in Syria “will begin to announce their dissolution and enter” the army.
Regarding U.S. support for the SDF, Fidan said that supporting Türkiye over the SDF will be in the interest of the next administration of President-elect Donald Trump. “When we look at it from America’s interests, as a mathematical calculation, whether Türkiye or a terrorist organization like the PKK is more important, Mr. Trump sees the mathematics immediately,” he said.
Jake Sullivan reportedly said on Dec. 21 during a panel in New York, “that one of the major issues” for Washington is “how to ensure that we are standing up for and standing with our best and closest partners in that ISIS [Islamic State] fight, that is Syrian Democratic Forces—Kurdish-led forces but also with a lot of Arabs fighting alongside them.”
“We need to stand with the Kurds and President Biden intends to do that,” Sullivan said.
