ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – Syria and Turkey’s security chiefs met in the Russian capital of Moscow on Monday to discuss possible coordination against Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria. It was the first publicized meeting between the two countries since they downgraded their diplomatic ties in 2012.
“The Syrian side in the trilateral Syrian-Russian-Turkish meeting in Moscow today called on the Turkish side to fully commit to the Syrian Arab Republic’s sovereignty, independence, safety of its territories, and the unity of its territory, people, and an instant and full withdrawal from all Syrian lands,” Syrian state news agency SANA said on Monday.
According to the Syrian state media statement, Mamlouk called on Turkey to withdraw from Syrian territory and for the “honoring of its commitments” with regards to Idlib.
A Turkish official who wanted to remain anonymous told Reuters that “the possibility of working together against YPG, the terrorist organization PKK’s Syrian component, in the East of the Euphrates river” was among discussions.
The Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) forms the backbone of the multiethnic SDF. Turkey considers the YPG to be the Syrian affiliate of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a Kurdish guerilla organization in engaged in a four-decade conflict with the Turkish state for greater cultural and political rights for the country’s largely repressed Kurdish minority.
Monday’s meeting occurred on the sidelines of a Russian-Turkish mediation effort for a ceasefire in Libya, between the Libyan National Army, led by Khalifa Heftar, and the internationally UN recognized Government of National Accord (GNA).
Syria was represented in the meeting by Syrian National Security chief General Ali Mamlouk; Hakkan Fidan, head of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT), represented Turkey. It was the first publicized meeting between the two sides since diplomatic ties deteriorated in 2012, soon after Syria’s civil war began. However, the two sides are widely believed to have previously had secret intelligence contact.
In the deterioration of once strong ties, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has branded Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a terrorist who needs to step down, while Assad has called Erdogan a “thief” and supporter of terrorist groups.
Turkey has backed opposition and Islamist groups opposed to the rule of the Assad since the civil war began. Alongside Iran and Russia, it has also been one of the guarantor states in the Astana Peace Talks and the Sochi agreement in September of 2018 for a political settlement and a ceasefire deal in the last rebel-held bastion province of Idlib.
Turkey has occupied stretches of land in northern Syria since 2016, taken from the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) and the Islamic State (ISIS). Its latest operation began on October 9, and ended with the seizure of a stretch of land between the towns of Gire Spi (Tel Abyad) and Sari Kani (Ras al-Ain). Turkey also controls the Kurdish enclave of Afrin and areas in Northern Aleppo province.
Turkish incursion into Kurdish-controlled northern and eastern Syria has rendered the Kurdish-led authorities vulnerable to a possible Syrian-Turkish coordination that could put an end to Kurdish aspirations for autonomy.
Following the Turkish invasion, the SDF struck a military deal with the Syrian regime on October 13 for regime troop deployment in Kurdish-controlled areas to deter further Turkish advances.
Since then, with Russian mediation, the two sides have been trying to reach a political deal, but the regime has been unwilling to compromise - especially with regards to Kurdish autonomy.
On December 6, Mamlouk visited the northeast Syrian city of Qamishli, where he met with tribal leaders. The visit was largely to dissuade the tribal leaders, an important part of society, from supporting the SDF.
