ISTANBUL, Oct 23 — Turkey today said it was counting on Russia to implement an agreement to ensure Kurdish forces withdraw from areas close to the Syrian border, adding that it could not “fully rely” on the Damascus regime.
After hours of talks in the Black Sea resort of Sochi today, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed the deal with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Under its terms, Moscow will “facilitate the removal” of Kurdish fighters and their weapons from within 30 kilometres (18 miles) of the border.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Wednesday in a televised interview with the official Anadolu news agency that Moscow had assured Ankara it would not allow President Bashar al-Assad’s regime to cooperate with Kurdish fighters.
“Could the (Damascus) regime cooperate with the PKK? It can but then we will do what’s necessary,” Cavusoglu said.
Ankara sees Syrian Kurdish YPG fighters as “terrorists” linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984.
Cavusoglu added that the Russians had assured Ankara that they would not allow the regime to cooperate with Kurdish militia because Damascus also sees them as a separatist terror group.
“Russia is determined but when it comes to the regime, we cannot fully rely on them,” the minister said.
Moscow is one of the few remaining allies of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime in Damascus, while Ankara backs rebels fighting for his ouster.
The Kurdish forces’ presence in Syria has historically been a source of friction in ties between Ankara and Damascus.
The PKK’s jailed leader Abdullah Ocalan fled Turkey before the 1980 military coup and lived in exile, mostly in Damascus.
Cavusoglu ruled out any direct talks with the Syrian regime for now.
“We have right now no direct contact with the regime. There are contacts at the intelligence level. This is natural especially in the fight against terror,” he said. — AFP
