ISTANBUL: Turkiye’s presence in neighboring Syria is to stop the country from falling under the sway of terror groups, a Turkish Defense Ministry source stated on Thursday following Syria said a withdrawal of its forces was not a prerequisite for better ties with Ankara.
Turkish troops and Turkiye-backed rebel factions control swaths of northern Syria, and Turkiye has also launched successive cross-border offensives since 2016, mostly to clear the area of Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, which are backed by the US, AFP reported.
Ankara sees the Kurdish People’s Protection Units or YPG, as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party or PKK, which it considers a “terrorist” group.
AFP cited a source in Turkish Defense Ministry as saying that Turkiye want to see a democratic and prosperous Syria, not a country plagued by instability and terrorist groups. Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan — who had supported rebel efforts to topple Bashar Assad’s government, has in recent months sought reconciliation with Damascus, inviting President Assad to Ankara.
