President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Tuesday called on the U.S.-backed terrorist group YPG, the Syrian wing of the PKK, to adhere to the March 10 agreement it signed with the new administration in Damascus.
Speaking at a human rights event entitled "Strong Türkiye for Humanity" in Ankara, Erdoğan said, “Implementation of the deal (between the YPG and Damascus) would derail the plot of evil powers seeking to destabilize Syria.”
He hailed Syria’s revolution that ousted the Baathist regime and pledged Türkiye would not abandon its Syrian brothers and sisters in the new era.
Türkiye's human rights record and the reforms that his government has done in this field dominated Erdoğan's speech at the event at the congress hall of the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in Ankara on the occasion of World Human Rights Day, which will be observed on Wednesday.
However, Erdoğan devoted much of his speech to Syria, where people observed the first anniversary of the revolution that toppled the Assad regime on Monday.
"We are pleased to see that, despite the devastation left by the Assad dictatorship, the Syrian people have held on to life over the past year. You probably saw how President Ahmed al-Sharaa led prayers at the Umayyad Mosque and recited a sermon. May Allah bless Syrians with the good future al-Sharaa promised at the sermon," he said.
"Türkiye, the Turkish nation, supports our Syrian brothers and sisters in their efforts to rebuild, revive and recover, using all the resources at our disposal. Over the past year, the Syrian revolution has overcome its most difficult phase," Erdoğan said.
Erdoğan noted that many Syrians speak Turkish now after spending years as refugees in Türkiye. "We are seeing the birth of a country speaking the same language with us, just like Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and Azerbaijan," he hailed.
Erdoğan reminded that he made a pledge to Syrians in the past and he would soon fulfill it, implying a visit to Damascus. "I believe that, with the help of Allah and through the prudent, steadfast, inclusive and just policies of the Syrian leadership, there will be no return to the dark days of the past," he said.
The president said they hoped that Palestine would also be liberated soon. "Freedom and peace will prevail in Palestine. Allah willing, a sovereign State of Palestine based on the 1967 borders and with East Jerusalem as its capital, will be established," he said.
The president also reiterated Türkiye's call to the YPG to fulfill its commitments to the March 10 accord. "The calm and orderly implementation of the agreement will upend the plans of malign actors who have invested in an unstable, divided and weakened Syria. In this way, Syria will move toward the future as a prosperous, unified, successful and respected nation in its region. We did not turn our backs on (the people of Syria) during the war, and we will continue to stand with them in peace. Turks, Arabs, Kurds, Turkmen, Sunnis and Alawites will stand shoulder to shoulder, lifting Syria up together and rebuilding it together," he said.
The March 10 deal involves integrating the YPG into the Syrian security forces. The YPG was initially warm to the deal and even agreed to withdraw from its self-styled duties for security in some parts of northeastern Syria where it maintains so-called self-rule. Yet, the terrorist group insisted on more rights for Kurds, namely federalism, a move that threatens to disrupt the relative peace Syria maintained after the end of the civil war.
The YPG’s existence as a terrorist group is a dire concern for Syria’s northern neighbor, Türkiye, which suffered from attacks carried out by YPG-linked terrorists in the past. Turkish towns on the Syrian border were also direct targets of multiple rocket attacks by the YPG during the Syrian civil war.
Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan last Saturday criticized the YPG’s failure to integrate into the Syrian army. Speaking during an interview in Qatar, Fidan pointed out that the YPG operated under the umbrella of the SDF in Syria.
"We know that the SDF has certain elements who are actually solely positioned to fight against Türkiye. So, to start, we want non-Syrian elements from the SDF, the elements from Iraq, Iran and Türkiye, to leave," Fidan stated immediately.
