In a recent statement on Al Jazeera, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan denied US President-elect Donald Trump’s recent allegation that Turkey was behind the fall of the Assad regime in Damascus on December 8th.
Responding to Trump’s assertion directly, Fidan said: “It would be a serious mistake to describe the situation in Syria as a takeover [by Turkey].”
In a statement praising Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the Turkish military, Trump had alleged that Turkey was behind the operation launched by rebel group Hayat Tahrir Al Sham (HTS) that led to the downfall of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
Over the weekend, Turkey reopened its embassy in Damascus, shuttered since 2012.
In his statement on Al Jazeera, Fidan also criticized the alliance with western allies such as the United States with the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDP) and its main militia, the People’s Protection Units (YPG): “Our Western friends are turning a blind eye to the fact that the YPG is an extension of the PKK”.
The SDF was a key ally of western powers in the fight against the Islamic State, but Turkey classifies the affiliated YPG militia as a terrorist organization due to its connection to the banned Kurdish Workers Party (PKK).
Speculation has recently been building that Ankara may launch a ground invasion against the group.
In his statement, Fidan also requested that western allies remove the HTS from their lists of terrorist organizations, saying that group had distanced itself from the Islamic State and Al Qaeda, with whom it was previously allied.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
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