Erdogan Calls for Eradication of IS and Kurdish Fighters in Syria

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan declared on Friday that it is essential to eliminate groups that threaten Syria’s survival, particularly the Islamic State (ISIS) and Kurdish fighters. Erdogan emphasized the need to neutralize terrorist organizations like ISIS and the PKK, as well as their affiliates, to ensure Syria’s stability.

He referred to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which include the Kurdish YPG militia, as a terror organization due to its links with the PKK, a group involved in a long-standing insurgency against Turkey. While the SDF played a critical role in the fight against ISIS in Syria, especially in 2019, the United States views them as essential to preventing the resurgence of jihadist forces.

Erdogan stressed that Turkey is taking preventive actions against groups that pose a risk to its security and expressed confidence that Syria’s new leadership would refrain from collaborating with such organizations. He warned that the leaders of these groups, including ISIS and the PKK-YPG, would be swiftly targeted.

Furthermore, Erdogan mentioned that Turkey’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, is set to visit Damascus soon, following a recent meeting between Turkey’s spy chief, Ibrahim Kalin, and the leadership of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) in Syria, which occurred just days after the fall of Assad’s government.