Turkey reaches out to Syria as Damascus courts Amman - analysis

Turkey would like to have better ties with the Syrian regime, but it wants Damascus to make changes to how it deals with Kurdish far-left groups which Ankara considers “terrorists.” Turkey’s Communications Director Fahrettin Altun said that it is “imperative to get some concrete results” in the fight against terrorism, Turkey’s state-run TRT said on Monday. 

Turkey claims that the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are “terrorists” linked to the “PKK/YPG/PYD.” This acronym word salad is often used by Ankara as a catch-all for what it claims are “terrorists” which includes women rights activists, civilians in sports clubs, and others in Syria.

Turkey has sought for years to get Syrian rebels it backs in Syria to fight these Kurdish groups and remove Kurds from border areas like Afrin, and replace them with groups that Ankara backs.

Today Ankara’s policy is to try to get several million Syrian refugees in Turkey to go back to Syria. To achieve that it needs better ties with Damascus. Recently Russia, which backs the Syrian regime, got the UN to close a border crossing from Turkey to northwest Syria, further isolating the areas of Idlib and Afrin, which Turkey occupies.  

This complex situation means that Turkey may want to normalize ties with Syria, but that in order to do this it needs to see Damascus cater to some of Ankara’s demands. In the long term Turkey wants to work with Russia and Iran, as well as Damascus to get the US to leave Syria. READ MORE