ANKARA (Reuters) – Turkey rejects any plans that undermine the central government in Syria or threaten its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Turkish sources said, responding to demands from Kurds for Syria to adopt a decentralised system of government.
Turkey backed rebels against former President Bashar al-Assad for years and is seen as the closest foreign ally of Syria’s new Islamist leaders, vowing to help them rebuild and stabilise a country devastated by 14 years of war.
Ankara sees decentralisation demands by Syria’s Kurds as a threat because of what it says are their cross-border links to Kurdish militants in Turkey, while it looks to end a decades-old conflict with the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militia.
Rival Syrian Kurdish parties, including the dominant Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in the northeast, agreed at a meeting on Saturday on a common political vision for the country’s Kurdish minority and decentralisation, a call rejected by Syria’s leadership.
Turkish sources elaborated on comments by President Tayyip Erdogan, who said on Wednesday that decentralisation demands in Syria were “nothing more than a raw dream”.
“Turkey does not accept any initiative that targets Syria’s territorial integrity, that will damage its sovereignty, or that allows weapons to be carried by others not in the Syrian central authority,” a Turkish Foreign Ministry source said.
Turkey, a NATO member, views the U.S.-backed SDF as a terrorist organisation.
Ankara welcomed a March deal between the SDF and Damascus to merge Kurdish-led governing bodies and security forces with the central government, but said it must also ensure the dismantling of the YPG militia spearheading the SDF, and of the SDF’s chain of command.
PROVIDING ‘SPACE’
The source said Turkey had provided “the necessary space” for Damascus to address Turkey’s concerns over Kurdish militants in Syria. Ankara has previously warned of military action if its concerns are not alleviated.
A Turkish defence ministry source said on Wednesday that demands for autonomy could harm Syria’s sovereignty and regional stability.
“We cannot consent to the disintegration of Syria’s territorial integrity and the deterioration of its unitary structure under any guise,” the source told a briefing in Ankara.
“We are against autonomous region and/or decentralised rhetoric or activities, just as is the new Syrian administration.”
Late on Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Oncu Keceli said all regional countries must contribute to Syria’s security and stability, calling on Israel to halt “its air strikes that harm the unity and integrity of Syria”.
Israel has been mounting air strikes inside Syria, which Turkey has called an unacceptable provocation to harm Syria’s unity in the post-Assad era. Ankara has been a fierce critic of Israel since it launched the Gaza war.
Ankara also wants all Western sanctions imposed on Syria to be fully lifted and for U.S. troops stationed in the northeast to withdraw.
(Reporting by Tuvan Gumrukcu; Editing by Aidan Lewis)
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