Turkey committed to ceasefires in Syria: defense minister

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar on Saturday said his country remains committed to 2019 ceasefire agreements made with Russia and the United States in northern Syria, despite renewed threats from Ankara of a military operation against Kurdish fighters.

Turkey signed two truce agreements with Russia and the US in October 2019 to end its military operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria. Ankara and Moscow also announced a truce between regime forces and rebels in Idlib in 2020. All three ceasefires have brought some stability, but have been violated dozens of times.

“We have agreements with the Americans and the Russians. We have fulfilled our part in these agreements in the best way possible, and we continue to do so. We remind our interlocutors to do their part as well,” Akar told journalists in Brussels where he was attending NATO meetings.

“Although there are some violations, clashes and attacks from time to time, the ceasefire and stability continue within the framework of the measures taken in general,” he added.

Turkey and the SDF have accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

A Turkish drone attack this week in Kobane, which is covered by the Russian-Turkish ceasefire, killed two civilians and injured a local official. Mazloum Abdi, general commander of the SDF, condemned the attack, saying Turkey “is violating agreements.”

“The bombardment of civilians in Kobane was a provocation, aimed at causing war,” he added, and called on Russia and the US to perform “their duty” as guarantors of the truce.

Turkish officials frequently threaten offensives against Syrian Kurdish forces across the border and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this month again said he had “no patience” with the Kurdish groups and unnamed officials told Reuters the target of a possible new operation is the Tal Rifaat area in Aleppo province, which Turkey accuses Kurdish forces of using as a launch pad for attacks on their positions.

RELATED: Tal Rifaat: Turkey’s next offensive in Syria?

Caroline Rose, senior analyst at the Washington-based think tank Newlines Institute for Strategy and Policy, thinks Ankara is testing the boundaries of how far it can go in Syria.

"The Turkish campaign in Tal Rifaat is to disrupt the status quo in the region and pose a test both to the Syrian regime and its Russian security guarantor, as it aims to retain force projection and a zone of influence in Syria’s northwest,” she told Rudaw English on Tuesday. “It is also a chance for Turkey to experiment with the limits of cooperation with Russia, particularly in the wake of the 2020 March Idlib ceasefire agreement and recent tensions with Russian forces in the province.”

Although Turkey seems to have lost interest in Idlib province and there are reports that it could be looking to do a deal with Russia that would see them swapping control of the rebel-held province with Tal Rifaat, Akar said Idlib is “important” for them.

“Our presence is important. Our presence there prevents massacres by the regime. Preventing this also stops the wave of immigration and radicalization,” he said on Saturday.

The minister also said the latest meeting between Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi in late September has made the situation in Idlib “calmer.”

October 20 was one of the deadliest days for Syrians in recent months as nearly 30 people died as a result of an attack on an army bus in Damascus, regime shelling of rebels in Idlib, and the Turkish drone attack in Kobane.

The US embassy in Syria condemned the escalation in the country and called on “all parties to respect existing ceasefires, focus on immediate de-escalation, and above all to protect civilian lives.”

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