Istanbul: Damascus has understood that Kurds in northern Syria have become a threat after regime jets pounded US-backed Kurdish forces in the country’s northeast late last week, Turkish premier Binali Yildirim said on Saturday.
“This is a new situation ... It is clear that the regime has understood the structure Kurds are trying to form in the north (of Syria) has started to become a threat for Syria too,” Yildirim told foreign correspondents in Istanbul, referring to the Syrian Kurds’ bid to join up regions under their control.
Yildirim said that Turkey will take a more active role in addressing the conflict in Syria in the next six months to prevent the war-torn country being divided along ethnic lines.
He also told a group of reporters in Istanbul that while Syrian President Bashar Al Assad could have a role in the interim leadership, he must play no part in its future.
Syria’s more than five-year conflict has taken on an ethnic dimension, with Kurdish groups carving out their own regions, and periodically battling groups from Syria’s Arab majority whose priority is to overthrow Al Assad.
Turkey fears the strengthening of Kurdish militant groups in Syria will further embolden its own Kurdish insurgency, which flared anew following the collapse of a ceasefire between militants and the state last year.
“Turkey will be more active in the Syria issue in the coming six months as a regional player. This means to not allow Syria to be divided on any ethnic base, for Turkey this is crucial,” Yildirim said.
It came a week after Turkey and Russia, Assad’s strongest military backer, repaired ties following Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet late last year.
The YPG and Syrian government forces had mostly left each other to their own designs in the conflict, during which Kurdish groups have exploited the collapse of state control to establish autonomy across much of the country’s north.
Despite the intensified military involvement of world powers, including the former Cold War foes, Yildirim said he was optimistic that Iran, Gulf Arab states, Russia and the United States, could work jointly to find a solution.
Yildirim also ruled out a new peace initiative with the country’s outlawed Kurdish rebels.
“There is no (new peace) process. We would not enter into a dialogue with a terror organisation.”
His comments came as the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has intensified its bomb attacks targeting police and military. More than a dozen people were killed in attacks this week.
A ceasefire between the PKK and the government collapsed last year, leading to a resumption of the three-decade long violence that has led to hundreds of deaths.
Yildirim also said the rebel group had failed to put the previous peace process into good use. Turkey and its allies consider the PKK a terrorist organisation.
